


you don't have to say nothing - you don't have to say you're mine

by goddessbeltane



Category: Anne of Green Gables - L. M. Montgomery, Anne with an E (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Office, Angst, Anne is in denial, Censorship, Discussions of Sexual Assault, Drama, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Gilbert Blythe is Whipped, Humor, Minor Angst, Newspaper AU, Prank War, Slice of Life, Slow Burn, Slow Dancing, Wedding, editor!Gilbert, feminist issues, jim and pam-like build up, pantomime, receptionist!Anne, roy is an ass here, spelling, very clearly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-17
Updated: 2020-03-01
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:15:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 2
Words: 27,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22767604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goddessbeltane/pseuds/goddessbeltane
Summary: I hate this asshole. Asshole! The nerve! Anne rose from her chair abruptly, striding over to the counter to meet an obviously frightened Gilbert – though she couldn’t blame him for being scared, the last time she looked at him like that was about five seconds before he was violently doused - before folding her arms across her chest. “And just what would you know about soulmates, Blythe?”aka: the office au that nobody asked for, but I'll be damned if I don't give it to you.
Relationships: Diana Barry/Jerry Baynard, Gilbert Blythe/Anne Shirley, Royal "Roy" Gardner/Anne Shirley, Ruby Gillis/Moody Spurgeon MacPherson
Comments: 42
Kudos: 231





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Wow. This fic was an absolute mONSTER. Right out the gate, I want to say that I have never worked in an office or for a newspaper, so if there are any parts in here that don't line up with what actually happens in these kinds of offices, then I apologise in advance lads whoops :/
> 
> Anyway, this idea came to me at 1am one night and I had to write it down before it escaped my mind. I tried to write some Anne with an e fic a few weeks ago but I never finished it, so depending on how this goes I may or may not go back and finish that story, because it's a lot more canon compliant than this one.
> 
> This one took awhile, but I ended up getting less rambly throughout the story because HOLY SHIT this is very very long. Apologies in advance. The last fic i properly wrote and published was for How to Rock when I was 12. wow. 6 years really changes you apparently.
> 
> As a warning, Roy is very out of character in this story because I needed him to be as much of a dick as Roy from the office in order to further the plot. But everyone else is pretty much as in character as I could make them.
> 
> Final warning: There is also discussion of sexual assault and similar issues later on in the story. Not a lot of detail in case that makes people uncomfortable because I know it's a very touchy topic xx
> 
> Title: Harry Styles - Adore You (the best album of all time fight me)
> 
> OK ENOUGH, ENJOYYY

The Avonlea Gazette was one of the few physical newspaper companies that had managed to survive the technological revolution of the 21st century. Though, most would have to chock that up to the fact that small towns like Avonlea found it extremely difficult to accommodate any type of change, especially on such a large scale. To them, a newspaper in their hand every Sunday morning kept them rooted to their traditional lifestyles, even more disconnected from the rest of the modern world. 

It was thanks to this wonderful mindset that the employees at the Avonlea Gazette found it unnecessary to try and push the envelope with their stories. It took very little to keep the local community satisfied; “Unusually Large Eggs at County Fair – Foul Play?”, “Lynde Vs. Gillis: War of the Cabbages”, “INSERT GARBAGE PILE OF OTHER NEWSHEADLINES THAT HAD BEGUN GROWING AT A RAPID RATE”.

That had begun to change under the new management of Muriel Stacy, editor for The Globe, turned Avonlea high school teacher. She had decidedly taken over the Gazette’s editor-in-chief in position after the previous head of the paper ran off to Toronto to elope with his fresh-faced fiancé, Prissy Andrews. Not that it mattered anymore. The gossips of Avonlea fairly doubted that Prissy was broken up about the short-lived marriage, the comforts of her girlfriend, a Miss Winnifred Rose, Mrs. Lynde had said, more than distracting her from heartbreak.

But that is completely besides the point. Muriel set about introducing an online version of the newspaper to gain a broader audience, as well as hiring a completely new staff of editors for the paper, and if the hours of interviews resulted in a majority of the new employees being her ex-students from Avonlea High…Well, this was a time where Muriel could subtly congratulate her own teaching success in creating the best batch of young journalists that Avonlea had seen in years. 

The paper had been running smoothly for many months by the time Marilla Cuthbert reached out to her. It had been years since Marilla and Muriel had been in touch, crossing paths when Marilla handed down the reigns of teacher to the younger woman. From what Marilla told her over the phone, she and Matthew had been living in Toronto all these years, needing to move for Marilla’s new job opportunity. However, Toronto had brought a second blessing, in the form of a beautiful, red-headed dryad. Despite not being related by blood, Marilla described her as “A Cuthbert, through and through.” And Muriel had always admired the Cuthbert’s while she knew them, so by that rule, she automatically knew that she would have loved their Anne just the same had she met her before.

But Marilla quickly assured her that she wasn’t just calling to catch up and take up her time, but she was in fact calling on behalf of her Anne. She admitted that the girl would never ask herself, her years of rejection in the foster care system leaving her a little anxious to ask others for any favors, but she was desperately in need of any kind of job to keep her busy, since she finished her degree and wanted to find a way to break into journalism. They were planning on moving back to Avonlea anyway in order to provide some much-needed relaxation for Matthew, whose heart had been playing up again over the past few months, and so the first place Marilla could think for Anne to apply was their local paper. 

Despite not needing any new staff at the moment, Muriel couldn’t help but sympathize with Anne’s situation. She was young, new to the industry and probably had a fresh perspective for their small town, purely based on what she knew of her history. But she couldn’t just hand out editing jobs left and right. So, she did the next best thing.

After all, the team had been requesting for a receptionist.

-

She fiddled with the ends of her cardigan sleeves as she waited anxiously for the older woman to finish up her phone call. She distracted herself by allowing her eyes to wander around the office, lingering on the various classic novels hidden at the bottom of her shelf in the corner, as well as the various paint prints on the walls, all in various shapes of leaves. She could almost sense a kindred spirit in her already, which put her mind more at ease.

Anne was thrilled, to say the least. Despite not having a proper job at the newspaper yet, any foot in the door was still a way in. She was determined to make the most out of this opportunity, having never had an actual paying job her entire life, always too busy helping the Cuthbert’s with their own work around the house and tutoring at her old school for criminally low rates. Roy had insisted that she charge much higher amounts for what she was really giving them, but she could never bring herself to put those children out like that.

Muriel had just explained to her the basic duties of her receptionist job; photocopy paperwork, patch through any company calls to her, deliver coffee on occasion, and other administrative duties that Anne knew she was well and truly capable of. Now it was the matter of actually going outside to meet everyone else. Anne had never truly been gifted at making friends, especially in a completely new town. Then again, she was used to this situation by now, but she supposed that old habits did die hard.

Muriel finally ended the call, turning to Anne, amusedly eyeing the mug of cold tea sitting on her side of the desk, virtually untouched by her interviewee. “Nervous, I see?” She rose from her seat to guide Anne to her door. “Don’t worry. I’m certain you’ll fit right in. Everyone in this department here is virtually the same age as you anyhow, so you’ll make fast friends, I’m sure. Grab your mug, we can empty it when we get to the kitchen section of our tour.”

Anne let out a breath she didn’t know she had been holding, chuckling and grabbing the mug, before following her out the door and into the concrete jungle of various desks and computers.

Almost immediately, a young, blonde man came careening around the corner towards them, paperwork in hand and tie slightly askew. He most definitely knew they were coming. The sheer timing of that turn was almost frightening. He turned to the editor-in-chief beside her, “Sorry Muriel, but Charlie said he had something he needed to run by you for this week’s edition. Says that Josie won’t allow his big news story to take the feature spot. He’s a little peeved off.”

Muriel sighed, rubbing the bridge of her noes between her fingers. “Alright,” she sighed, turning to Anne and placing a hand on her shoulder, “Anne, I’m very sorry about this. We can get back to your tour in just a minute, this won’t take long.” And just like that, the woman was whisked around the corner, a hurried succession of footsteps followed past the primary office area. Just like that, and Anne was alone again. Well, not alone, she supposed.

“So…Anne, was it?” The man smiled, clearly trying to appear charming. It was clearly not working, more coming off as a sneer than anything remotely enticing. Anne merely formed a tight-lipped smile and nodded, dropping her gaze to the floor, desperately trying to avoid awkward small talk with this stranger.

“Come on, you can’t talk to me?” She drags her eyes up, only to notice that he seems to have advanced a few inches, making his face much closer to her own than she would have liked. “If you don’t want to wait, I can give you a quick tour of the office instead?” 

That was a hard pass. She much preferred the womanly comfort of Muriel, who Anne was now sure she could define as a kindred spirit. “No thanks.”

“What, you think you’re too good to talk to me? Is that it?” While he wasn’t outright angry, she could detect the frustration creeping in through his joking manner.

“No.” She doesn’t know what to say anymore. 

Things seem to take a distinct turn for the worse. “Well, don’t get too proud already, okay? Would hate for the rest of the office to turn on you already. Can’t be too picky in the workplace, huh kid?” He was definitely not joking anymore, the threatening look in his eyes wiping any sense of humor from his expression, and Anne’s fight or flight instinct was about to kick in, when she heard another male voice from behind her.

“Hey. Billy.” The gruff voice rounded Anne’s shoulder to stand slightly between the pair, the rest of the office seemingly unaware of any altercation going on. The man was slightly taller than the first, Billy, and had tussled, brown hair. She found it hard to register anything else about him, since fight or flight seemed to have abandoned her in her hour of need, and she was frozen to the spot. “You get the coverage on the baseball game from Saturday?”

Billy seemed to recoil a little at this extra confrontation, backing up a few steps and allowing Anne to feel like she could breathe again. “You got it, Blythe. She’s almost ready to go to final editing.”

“Great. I look forward to reading it.” Something in this man’s tone seemed to linger, almost inviting Billy to try and pull anything else. After a few moments of silence, he continued. “Well, I suppose we should get back to work, right? Boss hates when our edits are tardy.”

Billy paused, glancing between the two of them, before huffing quietly and turning back towards, what Anne assumed, was his desk. A silence passed between the two of them, Anne finding it very difficult to even look at him, her embarrassment at the situation affecting her regular brain functionality.  
“You alright, miss?” She finally gathered the movement in her muscles to glance up at him, and automatically wished that she didn’t. This guy was far too attractive to be as good as he made himself out to be. 

“I’m fine…Thanks.” She wished her voice didn’t sound so meek, but while her brain had stopped short-circuiting, her throat had yet to catch up. The man chuckled, a light, raspy sort of thing that made Anne feel like she was going to tip sideways.

“It’s no problem. Resident dragon slayer by night, Gilbert Blythe.” He sticks out his hand eagerly, and Anne really tries to find it within herself to withstand his effortless charm, but it doesn’t take much for her to give in and shake his outstretched palm.

“And what would your job be during the daytime?” She jokes half-heartedly. Perhaps this would ease the tension in the back of her spine and actually let her relax before she had anymore disastrous encounters today.

“That would be managing-editor, m’lady.” He grins. “I help out Muriel with the final drafts of the paper after these guys sort them out individually.” He hadn’t quite let go of her hand yet, but Anne didn’t seem to mind the proximity as much from him, perhaps due to the fact that despite his alarmingly good looks, Gilbert Blythe wasn’t a very intimidating man.

“I don’t have to call you sir, do I? I’m pretty sure that only applies to bosses about 20 years my senior.” She slowly let their hands drop, not quite ignoring the momentary pitch in Gilbert’s, apparently highly expressive, eyebrows.

“Don’t worry, I’m hardly anyone’s boss. Practically a lacky for the real boss, just with a nicer title and a few more privileges.” She laughs at that. A real laugh too, because maybe she feels like she isn’t quite as nervous about her first day anymore. At least, not right this second.

“Well, lacky, I suppose I’ll be able to witness more of your dragon slaying from reception.” Good god, was she flirting right now? No, she was making friendly banter, Roy and her never spoke like this. It was completely different. But good lord, did it sound like flirting.

“I suppose you will…” He lingers for a moment, studying something just above her eyeline, before cheekily leaning forward and smirking, “…Carrots.”

The tension was back.

Every bully.

Every name she had ever been called.

All those mornings where she looked in the mirror and wanted to tear out her hair strand by strand for cursing her to this loveless existence.

All that work she had done to convince herself that she was loved, and that she mattered. It felt like it meant nothing in that moment.

Asshole.

Before Anne knew what she was doing, she had dumped her entire mug of cold English breakfast onto the front of Gilbert’s pristine white button-up, leaving him spluttering, and alerting the rest of the office to their conversation, reacting with collective gasps and exclamations. 

Those eyebrows were back, leaping into his hairline in shock as his eyes shot back up to her. She expected a look of disgust, of hatred, of god, this girl is a nightmare. But he had an unreadable expression on his face. Anne couldn’t be sure if he was surprised, impressed or utterly confused. Perhaps it was a bit of everything. She didn’t stick around to find out, though, and quickly made her way around the corner to find Muriel before gossip spread.

-

And there she was, standing outside of Muriel’s office for the second time that day. This time, awaiting a far crueler destiny than she had previously. To say the least, Anne wasn’t thrilled like she was that morning.

It only took me one day. No! Less than a day! It took me less than a day to mess up everything. As soon as one thought rolled in, it was impossible for her to stop the rest, piling up until she felt like she couldn’t see straight.

Fired. I’m going to get fired. You are going to get fired. You would never make it as a journalist. You have no talent, and the worst temper the world has ever seen. Fiery redheads. Spitfire. Princess Cordelia. You are the homeliest, redheaded, freckled witch that ever lived. Nobody would ever want you. Worthless, garbage, worthless, stupid, idiot, garbage, worthless –

She hadn’t realized she had curled in on herself until she was interrupted from her thoughts by the office door opening. To her surprise, Gilbert walked out, his shirt still stained with cold tea. He spared a look in her direction, clearly wanting to speak with her, but Anne resolutely turned her head away the second he caught her eye. She had made up her mind in the last hour that she would never forgive that dreadful man for making fun of her. Despite all these thoughts she had, she knew her worth deep down, and she wasn’t about to let someone ruin her one chance at success.

As Gilbert trudged back through the rest of the office towards his own door, Muriel came around the corner to find Anne leaning against her chair next to the entrance. Surprisingly, Muriel offered her a sympathetic smile, despite her obvious disappointment in the girl.

“Come on in. We have some rules to iron out before you start working here.”

“And my mother wouldn’t stop shoving all of these huge, puffy dresses into my arms! I swear, the woman thinks she’s the one walking down the aisle in 4 months!” Diana cackled, as the rest of them joined in the hysterics. While Cole was normally quite reserved at his small desk in the corner, he seemed to come alive when he was grouped with the other girls working in the office. The boy in question had thrown his head back heartily at the thought of Mrs. Barry’s ridiculousness.

Anne had come to love the group sat before her, finding unlikely friends in the scattered group of editors, reporters and online staff. Diana had been the first to truly try to befriend her – ignoring he-who-shall-not-be-named – and had inserted Anne into their friendship group without disturbance. Before she knew it, Anne had a whole variety of kindred spirits to see every day at work. She couldn’t be happier.

“Really though, Diana, you are such a lucky thing!” Ruby exclaimed, bits of her sandwich still stuck between her teeth as she spoke, “It’s my greatest dream to get married, and I’m not even close! I think you need a boyfriend for that.”

“What about Moody?” Josie suggested, raising her eyebrow conspicuously, “Didn’t he send you a Valentines card this year?”

Ruby blushed from head to toe, “Oh, but I could never date somebody from work. So unprofessional. I gave someone that advice in my column just the other week! I can’t very well be such a hypocrite!” She sighed, before continuing, fiddling with pieces of bread between her fingers, “Besides if I were to date somebody in the office…”

Every occupant of the table leaned forward in anticipation. “Yes?” Jane insisted.

“…it would have to be Gilbert!” The rest of the table erupted in a mixture of silent giggles and subtle eyerolls at the dreamy look in the small girl’s eyes. Anne, for one, could not be subtle about her distaste for that name, and made an audible groan as she slumped onto the table.

“He’s something alright.” She muttered under breath.

“What about you, Anne?” Tillie inquired, causing Anne to shoot up once more.

“What about me?” Were they asking her about Gilbert? Why would they think she had anything to say about him?

“Aren’t you in a relationship? That…Roy, guy?” She relaxed at the question, nodding with a more confident smile. Tillie pushed further, “Do you think he’ll be popping the question anytime soon?”

“Um…well…” Anne wasn’t quite sure she could answer this question, but they were her kindred spirits. Maybe if they knew she was having some struggles with this, they would help her understand how to get around this problem. “I suppose he should be soon. We’ve been together for about 4 years, since I was a senior in high school, and I’ve dropped a lot of hints for a while. But I don’t know…sometimes it seems like he really isn’t interested in getting married.”

Diana reached over to take Anne’s hand, a show of sympathy. “Is that bothering you? Do you want to get married?”

Anne sighed, leaning back into her chair, “Yes. I know it’s something that I’ve always wanted, but I suppose it never seemed like a real possibility until Roy and I got really serious. Now that I know I can have it, I feel so much further from it than I ever did before, since Roy doesn’t seem to have any marriage plans.”

After the girls and Cole all offered as much sympathy as they possibly could through their own short reassurances, Diana squeezed her hand slightly to get her attention. “You know, it took Jerry and I a really long time to sort out our relationship, long before marriage was even on the table. A reporter and a videographer getting into a relationship had felt like it could never work out. It felt too close to work. Once we fixed up our communication though, it was like everything fell into place. That was when I knew that we were going to make it. If you’re having these kinds of doubts, you should definitely talk to Roy about it.”

“She’s right. Communication is very important – especially with your future husband.” Ruby interjected excitedly, eyeing something behind Anne, by the kitchen counter of the break room. “Wouldn’t you say so, Gilbert?”

Good lord. Asshole is here?

It wasn’t that they outright hated each other. After all, they were in a workplace, and Anne wanted to keep her first month as uneventful as possible in terms of altercations. She was lucky enough that Muriel had somehow seemed to understand the circumstances behind her “unprovoked” attack on Gilbert Blythe’s clothes, but there was no way she would get a second chance here. 

So, to avoid any arguments, as well as the downright hatred she felt fill her soul when she looked at him, Anne had taken to a very effective strategy: completely ignore Gilbert Blythe and his pathetic attempts at stirring her up. She could just tell that he was trying to tease her again and get her temper flared again every time he came near her. But she wouldn’t let him win.

It seemed, however, that she had no choice right now.

She turned slowly in the chair, deadpanning in his direction, just daring him to come up with a comment on her relationship. Based on a private conversation. With her actual friends.

Gilbert, to his credit, seemed like he didn’t want to be involved, his eyes hardening as he kept his gaze locked on his empty coffee cup, as he filled it with water at the sink and flushed away any excess caffeine. His brows furrowed as he finally spoke up, clearly painfully aware of the seven pairs of eyes keenly stuck on him. 

“I don’t claim to know anything about romance, let alone marriage,” he started, keeping his gaze averted, “but I know that when I meet the person that I’m going to spend the rest of my life with, I’ll know.”

At his pause, he braved to lock eyes with Anne for a split second, finding her piercing glare as an unattractive response, but choosing to continue anyway. “You should just know. If he hasn’t proposed at this point, maybe he hasn’t seen it yet.”

I hate this asshole. Asshole! The nerve! Anne rose from her chair abruptly, striding over to the counter to meet an obviously frightened Gilbert – though she couldn’t blame him for being scared, the last time she looked at him like that was about five seconds before he was violently doused - folding her arms across her chest. “And just what would you know about soulmates, Blythe?”

He frowned even more, searching her gaze, before mirroring her stance and coming forward with his rebuttal. “I just told you, I don’t claim to know anything about this stuff. I just know that you shouldn’t just keep waiting around forever for someone who wouldn’t do the same for you.”

“Who are you to say that? Roy cares about me! We’ve been together for years! I barely know you, and you don’t know anything about my life!”

“Listen, I didn’t ask to be giving advice out, Anne. Honestly, it’s none of my business, I get that-“ 

“Correct.”

“Anne.” He had the audacity to look frustrated with her, leaning away from their heated debate and closing his eyes briefly, before turning back towards her. “All I’m saying is that if you really think he’s your soulmate, you don’t have anything to worry about. It’ll work out in the end if it’s meant to be.”

The group had become strangely quiet, and Anne realized they must have gone back to work. In the silence, Anne once again found it hard to evade the sincerity in Gilbert’s words. She relaxed her stance, sliding her hands from her chest back down to hang by her sides limply, as she tried to grasp at any other strong argument she could supply. But she was empty. She supposed, in the end, he meant no harm in trying to reassure her of her tumultuous relationship. And, whilst this didn’t necessarily mandate forgiveness, she could civilly drop the spat in order to get on with her day productively.

“Fine.” She dropped her own gaze back down to the ground. “Thanks, I guess.”

When Gilbert didn’t respond, Anne took it upon herself to assume that the conversation was over, leaving the break room in a dash. She wouldn’t let him win. She had photocopies to make, dammit.

-  
“Do you have any valuable input on these, Anne? Because believe me, I’m all ears for anything you have to say right now.” Cole ran his fingers through his hair hopelessly, as Anne placed the 3 different graphic designs for the front-page header on his desk in front of him.

“You want my honest opinion?” He nodded, almost pleadingly. “They look virtually identical, Cole. Don’t stress yourself out so much. Whatever you pick, I’m sure Muriel will love it.”

Cole smiled affectionately at her, before huffing once more, “It’s not necessarily Muriel I’m concerned about. Billy has the feature article this week because of that bust up in the championship game last weekend. That’s the most excitement the Avonlea sport scene has witnessed in literal years. Billy is so set on this being perfect, he’ll leap at the chance to skewer me in front of her for getting one tiny detail off.”

Anne was about to reply, attempting to ease his worries as best she could, when she heard a flurry of voices talking over one another for a moment, coming from the conference room just to the right of Cole’s desk. She knew that Josie, Billy, Charlie and Gilbert had been called in for an urgent meeting, but she hadn’t expected anything to get particularly heated, so this sudden outburst of noise came as a surprise. She glanced at Cole for a moment, before quickly dashing to the breakroom, leaving him gawking in her wake.

She emerged ten minutes later with five mugs of hot coffee balanced on a tray, easing her way into the room as cautiously as she could. She caught only a moment of chatter before she slipped into the room, Billy’s undignified yelp of, “It’s completely unfair, Muriel!” almost making her drop the precariously balanced tray. The second she came into their line of sight, all distinct conversation ceased. Anne could quite literally feel the tension vibrating through the room. 

She put on her most polite smile, gesturing her tray forward in question. Muriel hummed in agreement, clearly reluctant to continue the discussion whilst she was in the room. But Anne couldn’t have that. It was literally the only reason she spent ten minutes making coffees with their busted Keurig. Therefore, she deliberately went through the room as agonizingly slow as possible, making sure to emphasize how delicate the tray she was carrying was. It didn’t take long for one of them to crack, one of them being both Josie and Billy at the exact same time.

“If you’ll just hear me out Muriel!”  
“You can’t just change it out now!”

“Enough!” Muriel shouted, ceasing the noise quickly. “Please, you two, I know that we can come up with a viable solution to this, but we cannot properly have this out if we don’t listen to each other. Josie, you may speak first.”

Anne placed Josie’s mug before her as she began speaking again. “I know that this feels last minute, but this happened during the game that we covered! Don’t you think it looks bad for the paper to ignore a pressing social issue in favor of a story about a bunch of idiots punching each other for no reason?”

Billy rolled his eyes, as Anne placed his mug down and Josie continued. “These women were approached in broad daylight and catcalled by a group of footballers, who should have been on the field practicing before the game. If we allow the community to believe that saying no is a good enough reason to get verbally abused, what kind of reputation does that build for us?”

Gilbert chimed in from his position, leaning against the wall beside Muriel. “She is right, you know. If word gets out before we cover the story, and the younger market find reason to believe we covered it up for the sake of a good story, they’ll burn us alive.”

“But we barely rely on the younger demographic anyway,” chimed in Charlie, “almost all of our sales are from the more elderly divisions of the town, so what does it matter if people our age don’t support the paper anymore? It doesn’t affect our business, and the rest of the community won’t listen to them anyway.”

For a news editor, Charlie sure had a way of disregarding the greater good for his own personal gain. Anne almost slammed his mug onto the counter, even though he shot her an almost flirtatious smile. She recoiled her hand as quickly as possible before moving towards Gilbert slowly, while the man in question seemed to get particularly vexed by Charlie’s snide comments.

“You know that’s not the only reason we should publish this Charlie. We’re talking about what’s fair.”

“Exactly!” Josie exclaimed. “I understand that business is important, but this would only be one story, and it could change the perceptions around this issue in Avonlea forever!”

Billy remained awfully quiet as he sipped his coffee, but something told Anne that he knew he was going to win this battle. She somehow knew it too. As she handed her coffee to Gilbert, she couldn’t help but think about all of the girls she knew in the foster care system who had told her similar stories. Even girls at her high school would talk about it in class. This was a frequent thing and it was being normalized. Wasn’t this what newspapers were meant to do? Change the way we think?

Gilbert seemed to be able to sense everything ticking away in her mind, as he cocked his head to the side after taking his first sip. “What do you think, Anne?”

She froze. All eyes in the room fell on her, all except Billy, who looked incredulously at Gilbert. Gilbert fired back quickly, “I just figured we ought to get another female perspective. We’ve heard from about enough men on the subject.”

Anne did not like Gilbert. Still. She didn’t hate him completely anymore. He was even half-decent at times. Tolerable even. But still. So that’s why it almost surprised her when she so openly smiled at his remark towards Billy, leaving him bashfully looking back to his cup and taking another sip. Anne faced the room again, clearing her throat slightly.

“Well…I know I’m not technically qualified to give a journalistic opinion on this, but from what I can see, this is a really important issue that the people of Avonlea clearly don’t know enough about to be able to make a fair judgement. Women deserve the right to bodily autonomy and the same freedoms that men have, so why shouldn’t a newspaper be allowed to express that by telling this story? Those women deserve to have their voices heard, and not just as a little side piece in the back pages. It should be featured on the cover.”

If Anne had been able to tear her gaze from Muriel after her impassioned speech, she might have been able to see Gilbert Blythe staring quite openly at her, mouth slightly agape and eyes on the verge of misty. This was very clearly not the first time this had happened, even Anne knew that, but never before had he looked upon her with such admiration, respect, fondness. Blythe would walk out of that meeting a changed man, whether he knew so or not.

Muriel smiled at Anne despite the obvious torment this whole situation was causing her. “Thank you, Anne. That was beautifully said, and I whole-heartedly agree with you on all fronts.” She patted her shoulder firmly, before sighing dejectedly, “Unfortunately, it won’t be possible for us to publish this as a feature article. At least not yet. The Gazette has only been under new management for a few months, and we’ve received enough backlash from the senior sector already, purely from our online additions to the paper. To add this on top of all these other changes…it’s too much for right now. I promise you, Josie, we will still publish the story. Charlie, you and Josie will start working on it right away. But we must make our moves calculated and precise. We can’t go in guns blazing and hope to be accepted by a town of traditionalists. I’m very sorry, but it’s the only way.”

Anne took that as her time to leave, handing Muriel her mug and quickly moving towards the door, before remembering something important and turning back around. “I almost forgot! Billy, Cole needs your help deciding on the graphic for the feature…Okay. Bye.”

A few minutes later, Anne watched the team pour out of the conference room from her spot over Cole’s shoulder, with a mixture of expressions. Whilst Billy and Charlie seemed particularly content with the result of the meeting, Josie managed to just keep from outright scowling, holding in her anger until she got to her own desk and began viciously typing on her keyboard. 

Gilbert loitered by the doorway, looking around the room for a split second before seeing Anne perched behind Cole, smiling in her direction and giving her a resolute nod. Somehow, she knew what he was trying to say to her. Great job. Despite herself, Anne smiled a little back. Only a little, before she abruptly turned back towards Cole’s spread out sheets, pretending to ignore Gilbert’s soft chuckle as he wandered aimlessly back to his office. Meanwhile, Anne spent the next few minutes viciously denying any and all relation she had to Gilbert as anything more than a work colleague to her dear friend Cole. For someone so indecisive about his own designs, he sure seemed certain he knew more about Anne’s dating life than she did. Ridiculous.

-

It had only been a few days since the conference room incident, but Anne had already begun to feel more confident in her journalistic skills. Even if she couldn’t truly affect real change yet, particularly as a receptionist, she knew that if she proved herself to Muriel again, there was a real chance that she could make it here. That she could spark a change.

This newfound confidence saw Anne being much more open with the rest of the office, aside from the found family she had already developed. This meant that most days, Anne could be found delivering paperwork by hand to all of her coworkers, including Moody, Charlie and even Jerry, who she had barely seen throughout the office at all, other than to hide away in his tiny corner with his large headphones on, editing together his clips. She still hadn’t quite found it in her to enter Gilberts office to hand deliver anything, but she had taken an easier route and slipped them under his door from time to time, eliciting the odd chuckle from his room, followed quickly by an apology to whoever he was on the phone to, with an assurance that he “wasn’t laughing at them. I promise, sir.”

As the rest of the office began to pack away their things for the day, Anne shut down the computer and began gathering her bag and valuables. Tugging her cardigan from the coat rack and slipping it gently onto her shoulders, she realized with a sudden jerk of her wrist that she was missing her charm bracelet. The priceless charm bracelet gifted to her by Matthew on her sixteenth birthday, that now boasted five precious charms for every birthday since. There was no way she’d lost it. How could she have possibly lost it? It was done up. It was a metal circle that’s only job was to stay on her wrist, and it couldn’t hold up on that for one more day until the weekend?

She frantically started searching her desk, but she had somehow managed to bury it within the mountain of scattered pencils and paperwork piling around her countertop. She was so consumed in her fruitless search that the gruff clearing of a throat at the foot of reception caused her to yelp loudly, falling backwards into her wheeling chair, nearly hitting the wall as she rolled backwards. Gilbert looked on at her antics in amusement, much to Anne’s chagrin. Of course, of all moments to be alone with him, it had to be right this second.

“What do you want?” She asked, trying to sound angry, but lacking the energy and effort to hate him too openly in that moment.

“Sorry. Couldn’t help but notice your panic over here.” He smirked, like he just knew that he had caught her at her worst. It served to fire her up a little more, at least.

“I don’t think that my current struggles are any of your concern.” She huffed, wheeling pathetically back towards her desk to continue her search.

“I think it might be,” he winced a little, “because I have a feeling you might be looking for this.” He caught her eye when he put his hand over the desk, palm opened to reveal her source of distress. Her bracelet.

She couldn’t help the relieved sigh she let out, as she smiled eagerly and grabbed the bracelet from his hand. “Thank you! I honestly thought it was gone, and I really don’t know what I would have done had I actually lost it.” Pausing, she realized she was probably giving Blythe far too much credit for just picking her bracelet up off the floor, and she wasn’t about to just let him off the hook anyway. So, she dropped her smile and began fiddling with the bracelet, attempting to get it back onto her wrist with one hand. Clearly, to no avail, as Gilbert took it upon himself to come behind the desk and kneel beside her chair, forcing her to meet his eyes as he asked permission with a gesture to her hands. As much as she wanted to refuse and dash out the door as fast as she could, she knew that there was no way she was going to able to put this bracelet back on by herself before dinner tonight, so she reluctantly nodded, shifting her eyes away from where his hands now worked meticulously on her jewellery.

She assumed he would work in silence until he finished, leaving out the door as soon as he was able, but he piped up only moments into the task at hand. “Did your boyfriend buy this for you?”

She didn’t see how that was any of his business, but at this point, her ‘professional workplace attitude’ approach was the only thing keeping her sane in his presence, so she dignified him with a response. After all, he was trying to be nice. “No. It’s actually from my dad.”

“It’s really nice.”

“Thanks.”

“Do the charms mean something?” Anne thought he was certainly taking his time with the clasp, but she chose not to mention that. “I just noticed the apple and I didn’t know if that was meant to symbolize anything.”

She chuckled slightly at the memory of that particular charm. “That one was from my parents a couple of years ago. I was always the top of my classes in high school, and I was so obsessed with good grades that they got me an apple charm for my seventeenth birthday. They used to tease me a bit for how dedicated I would get. It was sometimes a little scary, I think.” It didn’t take long for Anne to regret how much she had shared. He hadn’t asked for her entire life story, Jesus. 

But he just grinned, looking up to meet her eyes and making Anne painfully aware of how much closer they were right now than they had ever been. “Don’t worry, I was pretty much exactly the same. I was top of my class back at Avonlea High, but I don’t think I went on a social outing from the age of fifteen up until I was about twenty. Kind of ridiculous.”

Anne smirked back at him as he rose, finished with the clasp, and began leaning back against the wall a little further away from her. “You think you’re ridiculous? I used to walk around the city and spell out as many words as I could before getting to school every morning. Spelling bees were my specialty in middle school, after all.”

“Spelling, aye?” He raised his eyebrow challengingly, “You up to battle a previous champion?”

“I don’t know, are you really up for it? I’ve been told I’m quite a logorrhea.”

He chuckled again. “Nice try. L-O-G-O-R-R-H-E-A. You clearly underestimate me m’lady. How about sacrilegious?”

She rolled her eyes playfully, actually finding herself enjoying the thrill of competition that she’d been missing all these years. “Too easy. S-A-C-R-I-L-E-G-I-O-U-S. Acquiesce?”

“A-C-Q-U-I-E-S-C-E.” They had gradually begun moving towards the door to go downstairs, their spelling competition apparently rendering both of them clueless to their own surroundings. Gilbert paused at the doorway, looking mockingly thoughtful for a second, before holding his hand out for a shake. Anne couldn’t help but be reminded of a very similar situation between the two of them from a few months prior. The very moment that led to months of silent hatred.

“How about…truce?”

Anne made no move to meet his gesture, simply staring at his hand lifted in surrender. Was she really going to overlook all these months of hard work to finally befriend Gilbert Blythe? It felt like she was going against every principle she ever stood for, and yet…

He noticed her hesitation, lowering his hand once more and scratching the back of his neck, nervously. “I’m honestly really sorry about what happened the day we met. I didn’t realize I was offending you so much. If I had known, I never would have said it in the first place. I’ve regretted it every day for the last few months. Do you think you could ever forgive me?”

If there was one thing Anne still wasn’t quite used to, it was remorse. Nobody had ever shown her any before she adopted by the Cuthberts, despite the severity of some of their actions and words. Even during her schooling years, she never put herself out there enough to gain more than respect from others, let alone let them close enough to allow them to cause her enough to pain to require an apology. 

Boy, did Gilbert make it seem rather enticing to accept.

And she supposed she couldn’t pretend to hate him anymore. Not someone who she could have recurring spelling bees with.

She smiled, hand out. “T-R-U-C-E.”

It took him off guard, but he took her firmly by the hand within seconds, effectively sealing the deal on their new…friendship? She supposed that was the right word for what they had right now.

They spent the few minutes between the office doorway and the entrance to the parking lot joking about their mutual hatred of Billy, their mutual love of Muriel, and their mutual appreciation for the office’s average tasting coffee. When they reached the parking lot, Gilbert turned to Anne, if a little anxiously. “You need a lift? It’s no trouble, I noticed you didn’t drive this morning.”

For some reason, Anne feels guilty about having to decline. Even more so for giving her reasoning. “No, it’s okay, um…Roy’s coming to pick me up in a few minutes. Date night, you know?” She awkwardly breathes out a laugh. “Thank you, though. I appreciate the offer.”

And if Gilbert looks slightly disappointed as he bids her farewell that night, Anne really tries to convince herself that she doesn’t notice.

“What do you mean you’re not coming? I already booked the tickets!” She grumbled into her cellphone, blocking her other ear to ignore the noise coming from inside the entrance to the theatre, as people start to pile into their seats. “I’m literally outside waiting. Could you not take tonight off?”

“Babe, I told you I’m sorry.” Roy’s voice crackled through the speaker, and Anne counts herself lucky that he has the heart to sound apologetic, at least. “You know I wish I could make it, but I only just got this new job and I can’t afford to skip out on night shifts yet. Charlottetown Publishing Company is cutthroat with this kind of thing.”

“Fine. I’ll call you when it’s done. Love you.”

“You too. Let me know what it’s like.”

Anne couldn’t hang up the phone fast enough. She knew he couldn’t help it. She was there for the very same reason that he wasn’t, after all. When Tillie insisted that the company all come support the local theatre production of the traditional Christmas pantomime, Muriel was quick to insist that it would be a wonderful bonding opportunity before they departed for the brief Christmas break. Not wanting to disappoint her boss, Anne had cleared her schedule for the night, making sure she was available and booking tickets for her and Roy right in the front row.

She hadn’t even backed out when she found out Cole and Diana both couldn’t come because of their own family Christmas commitments, both of them travelling home a little early for the break. But now, that left her alone, in the front row, with an empty seat next to her, at a theatre full of audience members she had never met and a crowd of work friends she was too pissed off to have an actually good time with. She was almost ready to call it quits and drive home early, blaming her absence on an unexpected case of the flu, when fate decided she deserved another unwarranted shove.

“Anne?”

Gilbert stood at the bottom of the steps, looking up at Anne, as she shivered and leaned against the rotting wooden railing of the porch, like she was some kind of riddle he was trying desperately to puzzle out. When she didn’t reply straight away, he quickly hopped up the stairs and joined her. “What are you doing out here? Isn’t the pantomime starting in a few minutes?”

She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, well, I don’t think I’ll be sticking around for the grand performance, unfortunately. It seems that my date has been pulled into a late-night shift at his new job, so I will be a solo audience member tonight. Empty chair and everything.” As was normally the case around Gilbert, Anne couldn’t help spilling her guts further and embarrassing herself. Maybe it was his eyes. Anne decided internally, it was definitely his eyes. The little hazel orbs tended to force confessions out of you quite easily.

“Oh. I’m sorry.” He grimaced, shoving his hands into the pocket of his coat to alleviate the stress of not having anything to do with his hands anymore. “Well, if you’re alright with it, you could sit with me if you want. Totally cool if not, but I’m in the same boat if it makes you feel any better. I thought my friend would be able to make it, so I booked the tickets without thinking. But he and his wife are in Charlottetown for the weekend and forgot to tell me. Again, totally cool either way. But, I mean, no point in us both being solo, right?”

He was rambling, and quite obviously too. Anne found it endearing when she thought about it. She figured there weren’t many options at this point, and besides, an evening with Gilbert wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. After all, they had become fast friends in the past few weeks since their ‘truce’ had been established, and it would suck not seeing him all the time, even just for a little while.

“Lead the way, my good man.” She embellished with a flourish of her arm, eliciting a hearty laugh from her companion, before they quickly shuffled into the theatre, just as the lights began to dim to signal the beginning of the performance.

Gilbert silently apologized as the curtain rose, insisting that he thought being at the back would be more fun, since you weren’t as obligated to be quiet like everyone else who was closer to the stage. Anne initially worried that being right at the back of the theatre wouldn’t be as enjoyable as being right in the front row, like she had planned. But, after a while, she realized that Gilbert was right. They were able to provide their own commentary throughout, Gilbert’s community insight proving very useful, particularly when the “evil lobster” marched dramatically onto the stage.

“That guy is the least scary person you will ever meet in your life. Mr. Lynde once apologized to my dad when he rear-ended him. Claimed his Honda Civic “obviously had faulty break lights.” Truth is, my dad was just a really terrible driver.”

Anne giggled as quietly as she could, but also noted the word choice of was. That wasn’t something to bring up right now, but at least Anne had some kind of idea as to what was going on.

The rest of the first act passed in much the same manner, the exchanging of secret jokes and incessant chuckling, much to the annoyance of one particular elderly man just to their right. But the two of them were too engrossed in the show and their own personal inside jokes to take any notice of the man.

By the time intermission rolled around, Anne was wheezing so hard that she had to hold her stomach to prevent herself from falling over. The costumes, combined with the ridiculousness of the story, let alone the added enjoyment of Gilbert’s randomly inserted commentary, were becoming too much for her. She soon found herself back to the same place they had ran into each other. This time the both of them were perched at the front of the porch, leaning their backs against the railing and letting the last remnants of laughter from Anne’s final comment settle down, as the clouds of air puffed out into various forms in front of them, mingling their breaths together visibly and leaving Anne warm at the implication of their intertwining breaths.

“I can’t believe Jerry didn’t tell us that he was in the panto this year! I think his portrayal of the brave knight was Oscar-worthy, honestly…” Anne chuckled out, throwing her head back and catching a glimpse of the clusters of glittering stars that scattered out above her head. She had always loved the stars when she was younger. They had always helped her appreciate her freckles, an aspect of herself that she always struggled to find appealing. But when she imagined those freckles as her own little constellations, it made her feel a lot better. It had been awhile since she could just watch the stars, unabated by her surroundings, so she let out a contented sigh and let her head hang back.

“Honestly…All seriousness, the panto is so much better than I was expecting. When they don’t try and take it so seriously it makes it so much more fun to watch.” Gilbert flicked his gaze over to her, momentarily freezing as he saw the dreamlike trance that she had fallen into but continuing anyway. “I’m sure Roy will love to hear about it.”

Well, that well and truly broke Anne out of her spell. She lulled her head back to an upright position, seemingly ignoring Gilbert’s last input, and staring resolutely at a spot on the wall, breathing deeply, before responding. “Sometimes, I just don’t get Roy.”

Somehow the silence became electrically charged, and Anne forced herself to turn back to the side, to see the cause of the burning holes in the side of her head. It felt like the wind was knocked out of her lungs as their gazes locked, and Gilbert’s eyes bore endlessly into hers. She was ninety percent sure that they had both actually stopped breathing, because she hadn’t seen a single cloud puff out into the air in between the two of them in the last few moments. Truthfully, Anne didn’t know how long they stood there, refusing to cross this invisible line they were somehow both frighteningly aware of, but neither making any move to break away. It was the moment when Gilbert’s eyes slowly moved down towards her mouth region that Anne finally snapped herself out of whatever stupor she had found herself in.

Roy. Roy, your boyfriend. Your boyfriend, Roy. 

“I’m cold.” Anne blurted out, far too loudly for their proximity. But the volume seemed to snap Gilbert out of his own haze, as he coughed violently and offered a tight-lipped smile, suggesting they move back inside for the start of the second act.

There were no jokes shared in that half of the pantomime. Anne didn’t find it nearly as enjoyable as the first act, all the acting seeming to fall flat and the story starting to bore her a little. She obviously appreciated the effort they were putting in, but she just couldn’t focus on anything other than Gilbert’s hands that lay fidgeting in his lap, a sheen of sweat coating his palm. Not that it was very hot in the theatre.

After the actors took their curtain call and the audience began making their way out of the theatre, Anne and Gilbert found themselves hovering outside of Anne’s car, an uncertain goodbye hanging between them as she fiddled with her keys hopelessly.

But she promised herself that she wouldn’t leave things like this. They had been in such a good place, and Anne couldn’t afford to go back to radio silence. Strange, how a month of Gilbert Blythe’s friendship had made her question how she ever went an existence without it. Selfishly, she craved it.

“Hey, Gilbert?”

“…Yeah?”

“Merry C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S.”

His breath puffs out in front of her, almost covering his blinding smile, and not even coming close to masking her own.

“Anne!” Gilbert viciously whispers to her as he finally reaches her desk.

She glances up at him, before looking back to her computer, smirking evilly. “What’s up, Rupert?”

His unamused expression caused her to break her composure, bursting into a short fit of giggles.

Since coming back from break, Moody and Gilbert had somehow waged an unending prank war – something that surprised Anne immensely when Gilbert brought up the idea with her, since she had never seen Gilbert joke around much at all when he was in full work mode, let alone take part in a damn prank war – in anticipation of April Fool’s Day. The wager was that the prank war would end officially on the actual date of April Fool’s, the loser, determined by the rest of the office that morning, being forced to take the winner’s night shifts for the next month. Anne had already sworn to Diana that she would be voting in Moody’s favor regardless of the outcome of the pranks, simply for the satisfaction of knowing “Gil” would be locking up after her for once. She pointedly changed the subject when her best friend brought up the topic of the nickname, though.

Muriel had gone along with the idea good-naturedly, allowing for a little goofing around, as long it didn’t disrupt the boy’s productivity. After all, the newspapers local popularity had shot up recently, after Diana secured an interview with internationally famous musician, and ex-Avonlea resident, Kyle Meagher, during his national tour earlier in the month. So, as long as the editors kept up the good work, Muriel was in a consistently good mood through most of winter and spring, leaving the boys with some freedom to continue their battle.

So far, Gilbert had stuck Moody’s stapler in jelly, leaving the plate hiding in one of his empty drawers, followed by Moody taping Gilbert’s stationary to precarious locations around the office. In retaliation, Gilbert somehow managed to insert all of Moody’s stationary into the vending machine in the break room, causing him to spend $20 getting them all out individually. Something told Anne that Gilbert had relied more on the janitors help for that one. Moody was the one to most recently fire back, paying everyone in the office $5 to call his enemy Rupert for the remainder of the prank war. This one had been the most fun for Anne. For obvious reasons.

“Seriously, what’s up?” Anne let her laughter pass, actually giving Gilbert her full attention.

“Rupert would love to have your help in his next prank.”

She raised her eyebrow in suspicion. “Oh, does he now? The great prankster can’t handle it all on his own?”

“Unfortunately, no. The ‘great prankster’ is in much need of an assistant for his latest trick. Preferably one who sits right next to the coat rack. And has ready access to an umbrella.” He grinned mischievously. 

Anne’s interest was now peeked. So, there was a plan after all. 

“I’m listening.”

Later that day, the plan was well underway.

“Stop it! There’s no way you think that’s true.” Anne remarked loudly, as Gilbert leaned over the desk, engaged in deliberately planned dialogue. Moody, as well as a few others in the vicinity, were listening intently as the conversation continued. Cole interrupted them briefly.

“What are you guys talking about?”

“There’s this video I sent Gilbert last night.” Anne explained expertly. “This little boy claims that he was born with telekinetic powers. He even moves things in the video! A chair just starts shuffling along the floor with nothing pulling it. I didn’t believe it at first, but the psychologists interviewing him claimed he really believed it, that he didn’t have any issues. It’s crazy!”

“I was just telling Anne that it’s not that crazy. I’ve been moving things around like that since I was in middle school.” Gilbert added nonchalantly, moving to stand closer to Moody’s desk, gaging his reaction carefully. While the others simply laughed off his comment, Moody reacted perfectly, just as planned.

“No way. Dude, telekinetic powers don’t exist.”

“How do you explain the video, then?”

“Wires, dude! It’s all in the wires!” He exclaimed. “I know this is just a prank, Gilbert! Besides, if you had telekinetic powers, how come you never mentioned it?”

Gilbert shrugged, “I just never felt like bringing it up. It’s not like it’s a very useful ability. It’s just not that impressive.”

Moody folded him arms, scoffing at the man beside him. “Okay then, smartass. How about you move something with your mind right now? Prove it.”

Gilbert sighed deeply, shifting his gaze around the room, pretending to look for objects to move, before his eyes fell on the coat rack just behind the edge of the reception desk. He lifted his hand in front of his face, focusing intently on the rack in the corner. Moments passed, when suddenly, the coats began to shake with the subtle movements of the object in question. There were a few heads turning in the room, poised in question and awe as the coat rack continued to shuffle towards the reception desk.

Moody looked as if he had seen a ghost. His mouth hung open like a dead fish, his pupils blown wide and his skin paler than ever. After a moment, he began spluttering and pointing between Gilbert and the rack absently, attempting, unsuccessfully, to form coherent words. 

As Moody went into a tailspin, Anne grinned conspiratorially at her pranking partner, as she subtly pulled her umbrella closer to her, the other end secretly hooked around the bottom of the coat rack, hidden by her desk. Gilbert winked in her direction, sending some unwanted shivers down her spine and causing her to jerk her hand unceremoniously, thus causing the coat rack to fall to the ground abruptly.

The loud whack of the rack hitting the ground did it for Moody, apparently. He ran out of the room, calling for some kind of paper bag to breathe into. Anne and Gilbert, still in shock from the turn of events, glanced at each other again, before breaking out into a peel of raucous laughter. Gilbert ended up knelt over on the floor, clutching at Moody’s vacant desk and wheezing loudly, whilst Anne repeatedly slammed her palm on the table and let out the loudest, most un-ladylike cackle she had ever heard in her life.

The rest of the office deduced the meaning behind the occurrences of the past few minutes, and after few moments of collective amusement, they all went back to work. Save Gilbert and Anne, who took a few more minutes to collect themselves, before high fiving over Anne’s desk, enjoying the success of their brief pranking partnership.

After that day, Gilbert seemed to visit Anne’s desk as often as possible. Most times, he had a valid reason, like needing copies made, or needing her to schedule in a meeting, but other times, he simply came over to share his latest prank idea and get her feedback, or to share his own thoughts about the latest news features, since he knew that Anne shared his passion for global news events. Anne found herself anticipating his daily visits (sometimes more than once per day, if she was lucky), and was almost giddy with excitement as she tapped her heel on the ground rapidly underneath the breakroom table, where Cole and Diana sat opposite her, recounting the hilarious events from the last few weeks of the prank war.

“My favorite has to be when Gilbert secretly faxed random messages to Moody from “Future Moody”,” she chuckled, “Do you remember how paranoid he was for the rest of the day? I swear he thought everyone’s coffee cup was spiked!” 

“I can’t get past when Moody paired his Bluetooth earpiece to Gilbert’s phone, so every time he was getting a call, Moody would answer it. It’s a miracle he didn’t get in actual trouble for that one! Moody is a secret evil genius!” Diana gushed.

“Oh my god! Do you remember last year when Muriel was away for the day, and we had finished off the paper for the week, so Moody organized a bunch of different games for us to play for the whole day? That was the best…” Cole sighed nostalgically, causing Diana to place her hand over her heart and gasp dramatically in remembrance, as Anne watched on in amusement.

“Oh, Anne, I wish you had been there, you would have absolutely love it! Box shoe racing is still a personal favorite, but I did have a remarkable winning streak at trash can basketball.”

Cole smirked, side eyeing Anne suspiciously. “I think I found a new favorite game, though. I’ve been playing it, pretty much every day, for the past couple of weeks.”

Anne quirked her head to the side, curiosity getting the best of her. “But I haven’t seen you doing anything. You just sit at your desk like usual. What’s the game called?”

He leaned back into his chair, folding his hands on the edge of the table, quite proud of himself. “I call it ‘Anne Alert’.” Anne’s eyes widened comically. “I count how many times Gilbert goes to Anne’s desk each day. Every time he goes over more than once, I treat myself to a glass of wine at home. So far, I’ve gone through four bottles this week.”

Anne couldn’t have been more beet red in the face if she tried. 

“Oh my god, you’re so right!” Diana exclaimed, eyes widening as she directed her focus to her red-headed friend. “I honestly think if he loses, he’s just going to use the extra alone time during the night shifts to plan out his “Anne Schedule” for the next day!”

It didn’t take long before she excused herself from the chorus of giggles between her two best friends and took the rest of her break at her desk.

Needless to say, she voted in favor of Gilbert the next day. He definitely didn’t need those extra night hours.

-

“Yeah…no, I told him that, Fred. You remind him that we gave him the deadline weeks ago and if he can’t get the last chapter finished before then, he should just bring it up with Jo.” Roy’s hand sat limply in Anne’s as they took their places in the pew. But Anne couldn’t pay much attention to her boyfriend at that moment, too distracted by the intricate floral arrangements Diana had organized to decorate the church. Truly, Anne blessed the heavens for bringing into her life a best friend with just as much appreciation for the natural world as she had.

She turned to Roy to gush, but noticed he was still on the phone with Fred. While disappointment filled her, she still couldn’t deny that she had been expecting this behavior lately. They had been dating for so long that Anne sometimes felt like he didn’t owe her any kind of special treatment. After all, it’s not like there was any surprise in their relationship anymore. She shouldn’t hope for some tragical, extravagant romance when life had already proven to her time and time again that those kinds of relationships didn’t exist outside of fiction. 

After taking her seat, she glanced down to her lap, smoothing down the silk fabric of her slip dress. The dark green had caught her eye that morning, part of her brain whispering that she should get over her desire to avoid the leprechaun cliché of “redheads wearing green”. Strangely, that voice sounded a lot like Gilbert had, when he complimented her dark green earrings the other day, saying that the color suited her. After styling her hair into a simple updo, and slipping into some nude heels, Anne had felt confident enough to leave the house.

Diana had been gushing to everyone at work about her excitement for the wedding, the time seeming to have flown since Anne first met Diana and she was still months away from her special day. But here Anne sat, waiting for the gifted reporter to walk down the aisle and marry her beloved videographer, and she couldn’t help but pull her hand slowly from Roy’s. He didn’t seem to notice, and she briefly looked around the chapel for familiar faces.

Diana had insisted that, had she met Anne a little earlier, she would have made her one of her bridesmaids, but by the time they had become as close as they were now, there was not enough time to rearrange things to accommodate another bridesmaid. But, truly, Anne would prefer to sit from where she was now, getting to watch the full ceremony from the middle of the church, getting a full view of every aspect of the wedding.

A few minutes after Anne resolved to quickly browse her phone, she heard the bridal tune begin playing, and she rose with the rest of the guests, glancing towards the entrance of the church. After Ruby, Josie, Tillie, Jane and Cole entered with their respective partners, Diana’s figure emerged in the doorframe. To Anne, her silhouette in front of the blinding light of the midday sun behind her made her seem like she was an angel, freshly descended from heaven in her pure white, lace covered dress. She seemed to glide down the aisle, and Anne struggled to hold back tears as she moved past her, shooting her a giddy smile.

Just as Diana passed her, Anne locked eyes with the guest in the pew across from her. How she hadn’t noticed him beforehand was a mystery lost on her. But here he was. Gilbert refused to break eye contact with her, as a slow, fond smile grew on his face at the sight of her. For a split second, she felt self-conscious. But the fondness in his eyes overcome her insecurities, and she could have sworn she saw the hope of a future like this in her own eyes. A bridal gown. Flowers in a church hall. Gilbert, looking at her just like he was now, and never feeling like she had to look away.

An almost harsh grip slipped around her waist, causing her to wince slightly. Of course, this was the time Roy would decide to pay attention to her again; when he felt threatened. She started to berate him in her mind, telling herself he had no reason to be jealous of her friend Gilbert, but suddenly, as if a veil, hanging before her inner consciousness, had been miraculously lifted, she understood that it wasn’t true. Roy had every right to be jealous right now. Not only because Gilbert was looking at her in that way, but because she had been looking at him with the very same fondness.

Gilbert’s expressive brows furrowed, and he slowly turned to the front to face the wedding that had apparently begun taking place. Anne mirrored his movement moments later, ignoring her hearts repeated thundering, telling her to pull Roy’s hands off of her body and rush to Gilbert’s side, urgently seeking his comforting touch in their place.

No. This wasn’t right. Roy is your boyfriend. Boyfriend is Roy. He is the guy standing next to you right now.

This was just because she was at a wedding. She was watching two of her close friends get married, and her overly active imagination had thrust the first affection her brain could register into her troublesome heart, forcing her to make up imaginary feelings for the first guy she saw.

Okay, that was a lie. Anne knew that. Even she couldn’t convince herself to believe that.

A great weight lifted from her back, and she loosened her spine, as she finally accepted the truth that she should have been able to notice a long time ago. She had a crush. That crush was on Gilbert.

But she was seeing Roy. She had loved Roy for so long now, and they would probably get married in a couple of years. Why did a little crush have to change anything?

Why did a little crush have to change everything?

Gilbert was her friend. She didn’t intend on ruining that with unrequited feelings. Sure, maybe Gilbert looked at her in a way that made her insides flutter profusely, but that didn’t mean her feelings were requited. Gilbert was far too good for her, and he would always be well and truly out of her league.

Things wouldn’t change. She leaned into Roy’s touch. She happily watched her friends share their first kiss as husband and wife and applauded with the rest of the congregation. She pretended not to notice Gilbert’s lingering shift towards her as the bride and groom met in their first union. She pretended she didn’t have to force herself not to meet his gaze.  
-

After Roy slipped away to the bathroom, Anne relaxed herself a little and took in the sight of the dancefloor. Since Roy had decided to enjoy a few more of the complementary drinks than was necessary, she had become a little distracted trying to nurse him back to sobriety and hadn’t had the privilege of getting to lose herself in the music like the rest of her friends. It was a shame, because Anne really did love to dance, and she didn’t get to do it very often, since Roy was born and cursed with two left feet and a hatred for all things dance.

The fast-paced music, currently winding down, had seen the girls form a small dance circle around the bride and groom, who proceeded to bust out their best moves, consisting of a very white interpretation of crumping, as well as too many mental images of Jerry jokingly twerking on Moody. After everyone had a chance to dance their heart out to the rest of “24K Magic”, the beat slowly faded out, replacing the violent and wild groups of dancers with scatterings of couples, swaying to an acoustic cover of “Angels”. Ruby found Moody’s hand, Tillie pulled aside one of the Paul’s she had been introduced to earlier, though which one, Anne had absolutely no idea. Cole shyly took the hand of a groomsmen from Jerry’s family, and Jane took this as an appropriate time to head to the bar. To everyone’s surprise, a tipsy Josie had chosen to grant Billy a slow dance, snuggling quite close, much to Anne’s discomfort. She couldn’t help but give a watery smile to Diana, resting her head on Jerry’s shoulder as they shared another dance together.

When someone cleared his throat behind her, she really shouldn’t have been surprised to find the one man who had been causing her a great deal of distress throughout the evening standing beside her table. She also didn’t know whether to be annoyed at his persistent appearances, or relieved to see a comforting face.

“Hey.” She smiled weakly. He tilted his head towards the empty chair beside her, hands stuffed in his pockets. A nervous habit, she had learned.

“Roy?”

“He went to the bathroom.” She paused. “Ten minutes ago.”

One of their familiar silences filled the space, before Gilbert held out his hand. But he wasn’t poised for a handshake this time. He visibly gulped, and his words came out almost raspy.

“In that case, would m’lady care to join me for a quick D-A-N-C-E?”

She shouldn’t. She most definitely shouldn’t. For one, if Roy came and found her dancing with Gilbert, she was certain he’d throw some kind of drunken tantrum in front of her friends. She also couldn’t guarantee that being this close to him wouldn’t cause her to throw her original plan of ignoring her ‘crush’ out the window, and pounce the man, right there in the middle of the dancefloor. Either way, this was unlikely to end well.

She smiled, reaching out to take his hand. She was sure she had never seen him smile more brightly than when he led her amidst the couples on the floor.

Clearly unsure of his boundaries, it took Gilbert a few seconds to let his hands find their place on her, eventually leading Anne to guide his right hand to her waist, grasping his other within her own and placing her right hand on his shoulder. At least this left some kind of respectable distance between them, so that any suspicion around the two of them dancing could be easily dismissed. 

They began swaying gently to the music, Anne finding various spots on Gilbert’s shoulders for her to focus on instead of looking into his eyes – lord knew that was a dangerous game. However, it was when Gilbert took the liberty to spin her around with his left hand, causing her skirt to flare and her hair to come a little loose, that Anne let loose a peel of gleeful laughter and finally allowed herself to look up at him as she spun back into their hold.

She was a little closer now, having bumped into his chest to stop her spinning, and finding her place at his shoulder again. “You’ve been keeping secrets, Blythe.” She jeered, teasingly, noticing the twinkle in her partners eyes at the joyful change in the atmosphere. Her comment caused him to visibly blanch. 

“What?”

“Gilbert Blythe is apparently an expert at dancing. Who’d have thought?” He let out a breath, laughing off his earlier shock.

“I definitely wouldn’t say that. I’m just lucky, that’s all.”

“Lucky, how?”

“Well, for one thing, I have the best partner around.”

“Can’t argue with that.” Anne joked, dramatically sighing. Gilbert let out a brief chuckle, before settling back into their dance. Neither of them could find the energy to look anywhere else, and they were both content to just enjoy the others company. After a few moments of this contentment, Gilbert spoke up again, in an almost whisper.

“After all this time…who knew we’d make such a good T-E-A-M?”

Anne’s responding smile was short lived, the sudden intimacy of the situation becoming clear to the both of them. But, this feeling, the feeling of Gilbert’s hand on her waist and his eyes peering into her soul, was too intoxicating. Anne hadn’t drunk much at all that night, but she was beginning to feel a little dizzy. She gradually crept her hand up his shoulder, as he took the hint and let go her of her other palm to rest both hands on her waist, her hands coming up to meet behind his neck. 

You couldn’t even measure the distance between them now. Anne was certain that if they were back outside the theatre from Christmas, she would be able to see their breaths intertwining again. You would not be able to tell where one ended and the other began. That was how she felt in that moment. She didn’t think she could really discern where her body ended, and Gilbert’s began. They were a team. They were one unit, slowly moving back and forth to a Robbie Williams song that she had tuned out ages ago.

Gilbert suddenly let out a stuttered, shaky breath, tightening his gentle grip around her waist and pulling her ever so slightly closer. Now she could make out the several golden specks in his hazel eyes. How had she never noticed them before? They were so bright and beautiful, she didn’t realize she had begun leaning closer still, to get a better view of them. When she came to her senses a little more, she realized that she could the feel the heat radiating from his body, their noses almost nuzzling from the lack of proximity. She found herself yearning to lean in just the slightest bit more, just to feel the sensation of his parted lips against her own, just for a second.

Suddenly, the voice of the DJ called out, signaling the end of the slow dance, and inviting everyone up for the “Macarena”. She felt, more than heard, Gilbert sigh, before taking a step back and releasing her from their hold, Anne’s hands reluctantly pulling from his neck and slowly falling to her sides. They were aching to feel the short strands of hair at the back of his head, to reach a little further and run their fingers through his locks, to slide their knuckles agonizingly slowly down his cheek. Anne could have almost reached out again, begging him to come back to her, but what would be the point?

“Thanks, Anne.” His voice betrayed his disappointment at their moment ending. “I better let you get going. I’m sure Roy will be back soon and he’s probably wondering where you are.” He took a few steps backwards, dragging his feet, before shaking his head and sliding between the growing crowd of dancers to exit the floor.

Anne had never felt so lonely in a sea of people. When did it get so cold in here?

She realized with every passing minute that she tried to exit the floor and find the man she was looking for, that she was leaving in Gilbert’s direction. She wasn’t looking for Roy anymore.

She wasn’t looking for Roy anymore.

Anne immediately began weaving her way towards the bathrooms. She knew she couldn’t keep doing this. Justifying her relationship with him based purely on the fact that they had been together for a long time. She wasn’t happy, and it was pretty obvious that things had stopped moving forward, and they had hit a standstill. Besides, she couldn’t keep seeing him when she was feeling…whatever she was feeling, for Gilbert.

When she finally left the floor, she noticed Roy exiting the bathroom door in the corner of the room, and quickly caught his attention, grabbing his hand and pulling back to said corner, to make sure they didn’t cause a fuss.

Roy furrowed his brows in confusion. Nothing like Gilbert’s though. “What’s going on?”

“I think we should break up.” She blurted out. Well, that could have gone down smoother.

He gawks at her and wastes no time in shooting her down. “…You’re not serious.”

“Yeah. I am. I’m sorry.”

“Anne, look…” He ruffled his hair in frustration and scoffed at her insistence, reaching into his back pocket to pull out a small, velvet bag. Oh no. Anne really didn’t like where this breakup was headed. “…I know this is about the proposal thing. I was waiting for the right time. You seemed like you wanted to get married so badly.”

“Roy, listen-“

“No, Anne!” He raises his voice a little, enough for a few passersby to give them odd looks, as she takes a small step away from him. “I never told you that I wanted to get married, but I was going to do it anyway. For you. Can you not see how stupid you’re acting right now?”

This was a different tension from anything Anne had ever experienced. She felt scared, a real fear that Roy was going to do something drastic. That he was going to lash out. He seemed to sense her fright and pulled back.

“I’m sorry…Look, can we just pretend like this never happened? You want me to propose? I’ll propose to you right now if you want. Do you want me to do that?”

He’s throwing her every bone, every opportunity to take this easier option and stay with him. Submit herself to a life of ‘happy enough’, to a life of never being somebody’s first priority. A year ago, she would have taken it. The chance to finally get married would have won her over in an instant. But now, things were so different. Anne had seen the possibility of a future where she wasn’t ignored. She was respected. Where she never felt unworthy of love.

She had seen a future, and she couldn’t picture Roy in it.

“No.”

“What?”

“I’m going to call Marilla to drive me home. I am really sorry, Roy.”

She wasted no more time trying to explain why things wouldn’t work out, instead doing what she did best, and fleeing the scene, beginning her frantic search for Gilbert. Now that things were finally over, she should have felt more upset. But she could only feel relieved, like she was experiencing a freedom she hadn’t felt in years. With this newfound freedom came the amount of courage needed for her to scour the hall for a tall, curly-haired brunette and lay one on him before the night was over and she lost her nerve completely.

As she made it halfway across the room, someone pushed passed her. She watched in confusion as Josie ran through the crowd towards the exit, tears running down her face and her bra strap dangling on the outside of her shoulder. The pins from her hair were askew, leaving pieces falling out, and every guest seemed to become aware of the scene going on in front of them, pausing their dancing to look back in the direction she came from; the women’s bathroom.

At that moment, Billy Andrews attempted to sneak out of said bathroom, looking around briefly, before making his way back to his table, clearly unaware of the hundreds of eyes watching him in disbelief. Anne, on the other hand, was absolutely livid. It was clear to her what had passed between the two of them, and whilst she hadn’t figured out the details, she didn’t need them to know that Billy Andrews was a pig.

She pushed through the still bodies towards him, where he stood with his back to her, engrossed in a text message he was typing. As she approached him, he looked up to meet her eyes only a second before her palm connected with his cheek, causing a loud smack. Luckily, most of the guests had somehow lost interest in the affair, clearly thinking that whatever conspired between Josie and Billy was none of their business. While Billy gawked at her in fury, she took her opportunity to leave again. It wasn’t long before she found the group, all whispering between each other as Diana and Jerry tried to keep the peace throughout the reception.

“It’s perfectly clear what happened. Billy tried something on Josie, and she wasn’t happy about it.” Cole pointed out, clearly angered by the situation. 

Jane rolled her eyes. “But you did see her before, right? She was asking for it by clinging to him like that the whole night.”

“She was drunk!” Ruby exclaimed. “It can’t be all her fault that this happened!”

“It’s not.” Anne interjected, entering the small circle and taking focus. “Josie’s face says it all. Billy took advantage of her tonight. She was in a vulnerable state, and regardless of how close they were getting, she clearly didn’t want him to do whatever he did. We have to do something about it!”

“Anne, what do you want us to do? We all know that this town has never been very open about discussing situations like this.” Tillie huffed. 

“But if we find out exactly what happened, we can hold Billy accountable! He can’t just get away with this!”

“We can’t force Josie to tell us what happened. She’ll tell us when she’s ready.” Cole sighed, trying to calm the growing intensity of the conversation. “All we can do is make sure she’s okay and figure out a solution later.”

Anne couldn’t believe this. Were they really just going to sweep this under the rug and forget about it? “But Cole, don’t you get it? If we don’t bring this up now, the whole town will have forgotten about it by the time we do, and then there will be no repercussions for his actions!”

“Anne, I know you’re trying to do the right thing here, and I completely understand that. But this isn’t Toronto. Stories like these aren’t told here. We can’t risk exposing Josie like that. At least not until this has all calmed down.” As he finished speaking, Cole pulled out his phone. “I’m going to call Josie just in case, and I’ll make sure she has a ride home. The party’s winding down anyway. I’ll see you guys at work.”

And with that, he was gone. The girls all said their respective goodbyes and left to thank the bride and groom for having them, leaving Anne to simmer on her own. She didn’t care what Cole said. Even if he was right. It wasn’t in her blood to let things like this slide, and she would figure out a way to avenge Josie Pye if it was the last thing she did.

“Anne!” Diana’s voice brought her to consciousness again, as the girl quickly approached her. “I heard you kicked Billy’s ass. Am I correct in thinking that?”

Anne muttered, a little embarrassed. “Maybe a little…”

She was rapidly engulfed in a tight hug. “That’s my girl.” Diana whispered. They pulled back, mutually smiling, but their eyes shone with the knowledge of a great wrong they both knew had been committed tonight. Anne suddenly remembered her other issue.

“By the way, have you seen Gilbert anywhere?”

“I think he left about five minutes ago, actually. Said he had some urgent matter to attend to. Why?”

“No reason.”

Anne didn’t know why Gilbert left, but she knew that she was pissed. Of course, he had to leave as soon as Josie comes running out of the bathroom in hysterics. Just like all the other men here tonight, he was refusing to acknowledge the situation, and just ignored it. Maybe he was more like Roy than she had thought. They both clearly had their ‘priorities’ in order. So, no matter how much Anne longed to see him enter back into the building, gather her up in his arms and whisper sweet nothings into her ear, she wouldn’t allow herself to see him as anything more than what he was. An asshole. Just as she had suspected all those months ago.

An attractive asshole, but still.

-

The aggressive sound of her keyboard rattling was the only sound in the office, aside from the silent whirring of the air conditioning system behind her. Taking a momentary break to down another gulp of her coffee and rolled up her sleeve to feel free in her rapid hand movement. She knew she didn’t need to feel guilty about her loud typing, because currently, it was 11pm and she was the only person left in the office.

After getting back to work the week after Diana and Jerry’s wedding, the office was still in a funk. Whilst Billy had gone about as if nothing happened, Josie could barely get any work done at all, spending much of her time staring blankly behind her computer screen. After a full day of this, Muriel suggested that she take a few days off, as she was clearly not at her normal level of performance. Not only had the office noticed Josie’s absence, but Gilbert Blythe had not shown up for work all week, clearly avoiding whatever had transpired at the wedding and holding no accountability for his sudden absence. Not to mention his lack of response to Anne’s multiple Facebook messages asking about his whereabouts, as well as when he was going to be returning to work.

All of this, combined with the fact that everyone seemed to outwardly ignore Billy’s behavior from the wedding and continue about their normal work days, had sent Anne into a fit of rage, one that could only be quenched by writing down her thoughts as quickly as possible. 

Then, inspiration had struck. She recalled the meeting between Josie, the boys and Muriel from last year. How Josie had suggested that they cover the important story on harassment as the feature of the paper, only to have her toes trodden on by the rest of the company, claiming it was “too radical” for Avonlea. Anne hadn’t agreed with the verdict, and she now resented their conclusions more than ever, and found herself determined to put fingers to keyboard and pen her own article. Nothing blatantly acknowledging the events of the wedding, or even any names, but enough to hopefully resonate with the good-hearted people of the community, and enough for Billy Andrews to receive the repercussions he deserved.

Then again, there was also the problem of getting it into the paper. But Anne was determined to finish the piece before worrying about anymore of the logistics behind her plan. She had far too much to write down for her to be wasting time stressing about that.

Just as she was nearing her final few paragraphs, she heard the slow creak of the door opening, and a few soft footsteps, before they suddenly stopped. She paused in her writing and berated herself for knowing full well who was at the door, even if he had been missing for days now.

“Anne?!”

Not even looking up, she responded as quickly as possible, going back to typing. “Can I help you with something?”

“It’s almost midnight! What’re you doing here?”

“Funny. I could ask you the very same.”

“…I left my laptop here the day before Diana’s wedding. I came to get it.”

“At midnight?”

“Don’t change the subject!” He insisted, pointing his finger accusingly at me, and marching towards my desk. “You’re the one I just walked in on, basically abusing your computer, by the way.”

She huffed in annoyance and finally granted him the decency of her acknowledgement, lifting her head to meet his gaze challengingly. She would not be roped in by his stare. Not tonight. “Don’t you have a laptop to take home? How about we both make this easier and just stay out of each other’s way for now, is that okay?” The snappiness in her tone surprised even her, but the late hour and the caffeine pumping through her veins, combined with her general frustration at Gilbert’s recent behavior, were really giving her the spirit that she so desperately needed to hold herself together right now.

He crossed his arms, refusing to move from his spot beside her. “So, you’re telling me this has nothing to do with what happened to Josie on the weekend?”

She knew it. She just knew that he knew what had happened. And he still decided to leave without confronting the situation. Not to mention he had the absolute gall to admit it to her now, as if it were nothing!

“If it did, I don’t think that’s any of your business.” She muttered angrily, going back to her computer and rotating the screen away from his prying eyes, trying to give him the hint that his attention was unwelcomed right now.

“How is this not my business? Anne, Josie is my friend too, believe it or not!” She could tell he was getting just as pissed as she was, but she wasn’t prepared to back down anytime soon. His tone only served to agitate her further, forcing her out of her chair to confront him head on.

“Don’t act like you care, Gilbert! You left as soon as it happened! No explanation, no warning, not even a message letting me know where you had gone! How am I supposed to react to that? You left as soon as something went wrong, leaving the pieces for the rest of us. Not only that, but you don’t even bother showing up to work for the rest of the week, and it’s literal radio silence up until you show up out of the blue, in the middle of the night no less, having ignored my countless messages, and now thinking I owe you an explanation for trying to do the right thing, when in reality, you forfeited the right to an explanation the second you ran out that door, Gilbert!!”

Her voice was booming by the end of her rant. The air felt thick afterwards, like it was becoming difficult for both of them to breathe properly. But Anne felt satisfied that she had said what needed to be said, and took back to her seat, typing as many words as her fingers could manage. She felt Gilbert’s presence for a few minutes, suspecting he had a few choice words in reaction to her outburst, but eventually she felt him move away, and looked ahead to see him turn the corner towards his office.

The period of time following that became a little blurry for Anne. She wasn’t sure when she had stopped typing, when she had started anxiously taping the handle of her mug and peering as far around the corner as she could, but she hadn’t written a coherent sentence since he had disappeared. Accepting a momentary defeat, Anne figured she would be the bigger person and clear the air between them first, if not for the sake of their relationship, for the sake of her nearly completed article.

As she entered the slightly askew door to his office, she saw Gilbert placing his laptop into his side-bag. She hadn’t ever actually been inside his office, strangely enough, but she thought his desk looked rather barren for one he had worked at for a number of years. But she chose to ignore that, as Gilbert noticed her presence in the room and immediately dropped the bag to the ground. Before she could open her mouth to “apologize for her behavior”, he beat her to the punch, crossing the distance between them and looking into her eyes, pleadingly.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

Good start.

He continued immediately. “When I left the wedding on Saturday night, I hadn’t seen Josie or Billy in ages. I only heard about the incident from Moody yesterday, when he called me. I left because my friend’s wife was having her baby.”

Okay, what?

Sensing her confusion, he scratched the back of his neck, elaborating. “The same friend I always talk about. We lived together in the farming areas of Avonlea when my dad died during high school. After he got married, his wife moved in with us too, but then I ended up moving to have an easier commute to the Gazette. They had been trying for a baby for years, so when Mary finally got pregnant, it was a really big deal; hence making it a very big deal for me. 

“Just before I left, Bash called to tell me that Mary was going into labor, and I knew I needed to be there. I was in such a rush to get the hospital, I forgot to text you where I had gone, and I didn’t realize that my phone was about to die anyway. When I got to the hospital, I used Bash’s phone to call Muriel and let her know I wouldn’t be at work for a while. We thought that it would be all be alright, but Mary was incredibly weak during the whole thing. Bash and I were honestly scared that she wasn’t going to make it through, so we didn’t leave the hospital for a couple of days while we waited. By the time she finally pulled through and had her baby, it was already halfway through Thursday morning, so I only got back a couple of hours ago.

I wanted to tell you, Anne. But when Moody called me to tell me about the incident, I knew that you’d be occupied by it non-stop this week, so I was sure you wouldn’t want to talk to me, especially after I hadn’t seen your messages for days. Truly, I am sorry. I wish I could have told you.”

Anne had to lean against the wall behind her at the intake of this new information. Oh my god. She was a horrible person. How did she just snap at him without waiting for an explanation?? “Gilbert…I had no idea.”

“I know.” He smiles slightly, pushing his hands back into his pockets. “You couldn’t have.” A familiar, somehow comforting silence settles in his office, as he scans her exhausted stance against the wall, before grabbing his bag and holding the door open for her, gesturing for her to go ahead. The walk back to her desk is painfully slow, Anne wondering if she should bring up her real purpose for still being here tonight. It was only fair after all, since he had shared such a personal story with her.

“What Is Fair.”

“Huh?”

“That’s the name of the piece I’m writing. About empowering women.” She rolls her sleeves back down to cover the nails she kept picking at. “You were right. Before.”

He smirks, a reassurance that things are starting to go back to normal. “I know. You like to think you’re very mysterious, Anne Shirley-Cuthbert, but sometimes I think I have you pegged.” She lets out a breathy chuckle, covering up the unnecessarily obvious uptake in her heartrate at hearing her full name on his tongue, in his sleep-deprived voice.

“I like to think I have some surprises every now and then, thank you very much.” As they reach her desk, she decides not to sit back down just yet, hopping onto the front counter, patting the spot next to her and encouraging him to sit beside. “I am sorry, by the way. It was unfair of me to assume you left because of what happened. You have your own life. Obviously, that escaped my memory.”

“Hey,” he gently bumps her shoulder, causing her to sway to her left a little, “I told you, it’s not your fault. Had I told you about them in the first place, this wouldn’t have happened. But don’t change the subject, you said you’re writing an article?”

She looks down to her lap, a small smile creeping onto her face, a little proud of how impressed he sounds. “Yeah…I know it can’t be published, since I’m not an actual journalist. But it was the only outlet I could think to use to vent. I kind of told myself that if it was good enough, maybe Josie could bring up something like it in the next meeting, where she has enough power to actually contribute.”

“Can I read it?”

What? “What?”

“I want to read it, if that’s alright with you.”

“It’s not finished.”

“I can help you finish it.”

“It’s unedited.”

“It doesn’t need to be edited to have meaning.”

“It’s probably not very good.”

“Anne,” he shuffles a little to face her front on, “I know you. You have more important things to say about these issues than anybody in this office. I’m sure the article is fantastic. But we’ll never know if you never show it to anyone.”

If Anne had any less sense in her body, she would have taken Gilbert’s face in her hands and kissed every inch of it in that moment, his encouragement filling her insides with more warmth than she could ever want for. She nodded slowly, hopping off the desk quickly to run behind the desk and save her work again and type Gilbert’s email address into the recipient space in her own inbox. Gilbert took the opportunity to hop off the desk as well, moving to hover behind her as she sat in her chair, his head almost hanging right next to hers and his body dangerously close to the back of her chair.

“By the way, why did you need to type up your article here, this late at night?” he teased. “Wouldn’t it have been easier to just type it up at home?”

Choosing not to look at him directly and face his pitying look, Anne swallowed and slowed her typing. “I actually don’t…own a computer.”

Without an immediate response of some kind, Anne was forced to turn around, the look Gilbert gave her signaling that he expected her to continue with her unravelling. And who was she to not oblige Gilbert Blythe when his hand rested so solidly on the back of her chair, the tips of her hair brushing along his knuckles.

“Marilla and Matthew never bothered to have their own computer before they adopted me, and I never had one while I was in the foster system. By the time they took me in, they were in too poor of a financial position to afford extra expenses on stuff they didn’t really need. And nowadays, pretty much all the money we have has been going towards Matthew’s medical bills. Besides, even if I really needed one, I wouldn’t want to be an inconvenience to them. I already cost them so much when I was a teenager, now that I have a job, I’ve tried to bring back as much money as I possibly can. To earn my keep.” She feels a little tired now; physically, mentally. “I suppose I never really grew out of that habit.”

Gilbert’s hand has moved. She feels its energy as it hovers, hesitantly, just above her own on the arm of her chair. When she lets out a shaky, exhausted breath, and continues to stare absently at the send button, he takes the initiative and places it on her hand, wrapping his fingers under her palm, causing her own fingers to curl around the top of knuckles instinctively. She thought she could have truly sobbed out loud in that instant, purely from the amount of hope that seemed to burst out of her.

“Anne?” His voice was hardly above a whisper, but she felt that he couldn’t have been any louder without breaking the beauty of the moment.

“Hm?” She doesn’t speak, for fear of her emotions overwhelming her.

“You could never be a burden. On anybody.”

That does it for Anne, and she lets loose a pathetic whimper and allows the hours of built up frustration, emotion and exhaustion to finally come loose, running down her cheeks in tidal waves. Within seconds, Gilbert had knelt before her, making his face align with her seated height, and wrapped her into his arms, one hand rubbing circles on her back and the other cupping the back of her head, soothingly. She all but melts into his embrace, wrapping her own arms as fully around his torso as she can from her seated position. Were this any other moment, she would have self-combusted from the sheer joy of finally knowing the feeling of being enveloped by Gilbert’s body. But all she could focus on were his soothing words next to her ear as his chin rested gently on her shoulder.

“Anne, you…You have to know how much of a blessing you are.” His voice vibrates through her, thick with his own emotion. “God, Anne – everything you do makes you such a one of a kind. There’s nobody else like you. There never could be. The world is a better place for having an Anne Shirley-Cuthbert in it. We are so blessed to know you. So incredibly blessed. How could you ever be a burden when you have so much to give? When you already give as much as you do?”

In less of a kiss and more of a comforting pressure on the side of her head, he presses his lips into her scalp, pulling her in tighter and allowing her emotions to run their course and subside. Eons later, after what feels like hours of circles, of incoherent whimpers and murmurs of reassurance, Anne pulls back only a little, coming face to face with a Gilbert Blythe she had never seen before.

She had thought she had seen every side of Gilbert, that she already liked every part of him. But this. This made her feel things. His eyes seemed to quiver with his own unshed tears, his lips pulled into a thin line as he trembled slightly, and his eyebrows seemed to form a little hill above his eyeline. Never in her life had someone, somehow, looked at her with no pity, and yet so much worry, so much fondness. So much care. 

That’s why she didn’t fight her body’s instinct to reach out and caress his cheek, not in an effort to initiate anything, but simply to feel him again, somehow become as connected to Gilbert Blythe’s soul as she had been a few seconds ago, lying within his arms. His trembling continues, intensifies and he closes his eyes, leaning into her touch as she gives a watery smile.

“How much could I have possibly given to ever deserve to know you, Gil?”

His sudden intake of breath does little to deter her from the contact, his own hand coming up to cover hers, pressing it further onto his skin, covered in goosebumps. The distance between them is slowly shrinking, and Anne finds herself continuingly dipping her eyes between his eyes and his lips, trying to decide which part she finds the most enticing.

Hardly an inch away from each other, Gilbert stops himself, closing his mouth completely. Before he can go back any further, or before he can give in and finally close the distance between their lips – Anne can’t be sure which – he leans his forehead against hers, closing his eyes in reservation. The long sigh that hits Anne’s face gives her the only answer she could imagine; We can’t.

She gets the message. She understands. No matter what attraction lies between them right now, it would never work out. They couldn’t come back from that, and it wasn’t worth risking the precarious friendship they had in place just for a silly crush. Because that’s all this was. It was a crush.

That’s why she pulls back, refusing to look him in the eyes as she quickly hits the send button. When it finishes sending, she bravely turns around to find Gil with a far off look in his eyes. 

“You really want to read it?”

His focus returns, if a little unsteady. “I do.”

“Then you can start now. I’ll start packing and locking up and meet you downstairs.”

He slowly pulls out his phone to flick to his most recent emails. He grins at the top result and nods, before heading through the door.

Ten minutes later, when Anne finally joins him at the entrance to the carpark, Gilbert is almost back to his old self, an imitation of his signature goofy grin plastered onto his face.

“So?”

“I have some personal favorite quotes already. Women matter on their own, not in relation to a man. Or maybe, Women are not made whole by men. Women are born whole the moment they enter this world. Anne, I’m telling you, it’s brilliant. You have to show it to Muriel tomorrow.”

She blushes. “But it’s not finished.”

“If I know Anne, which we’ve already established I do, then I know you weren’t just going to leave that piece without a conclusion. You can fit it in tomorrow morning before you go see her. It doesn’t need to be edited. Show her the raw article. It’s powerful. It’s like you always say, this is what the media is meant for. If we can’t use our power to change minds, what are we even doing this for?”

“…Will you come in with me?”

He pauses, hands retreating to his pockets once again. After a frown briefly flashes across his face, he plasters on the grin again and winks half-heartedly at her. “Wouldn’t miss it.”

Unwilling to let the moment go, Anne quickly uses up the last of her courage and swoops in to press a feather-light kiss on his cheek. “Thank you again, Gil. You really are the best, you do know that, right?”

He leans forward again, but hesitates, attempting to wipe any stray traces of affection beyond friendliness from his eyes, as he smiles sadly. “What are friends for, Anne-girl?”

With that, he steps backwards a few steps, unlocking his car and taking one last lingering glance back at her, before hopping into his car and leaving the carpark.

Anne takes a few extra minutes to slow her heartrate when his car is finally out of sight, and hops into her own driver’s seat. As she switches on the ignition, the radio blares to life, and ‘Angels’ by Robbie Williams begins to float around her car. She smiles softly, a memory that had seemed so distant a few hours ago now consuming her. His fingers pressing into the small of her back. His hair at the back of his neck lightly tickling the tips of her fingers. The love in his eyes that had her own hair standing on e-

Holy shit.

“I’m in love with Gilbert Blythe!”

-

“Anne?”

She had found herself back where she sat a little less than a year ago, while she had waited to find out about her fate at the Avonlea Gazette, after a spiteful incident of teasing nicknames, misunderstandings and tea throwing. Anne was now sitting in the exact same spot, waiting to find out what the fate of her own article was.

Anne had handed in her finished, raw article to Muriel early that morning, only insisting that she look it over and decide whether the content had enough merit to be given a spot in an upcoming edition. Preferably soon, so that people hadn’t completely forgotten about the incident, but Anne wasn’t trying to be picky here. Just like Muriel had said so long ago, to create effective and permanent change, they had to calculate their moves.

Anne also made sure to inform Muriel that nothing about Josie’s circumstance was mentioned in the article, instead focusing on the overall issue of the lack of female empowerment in the community. Josie had apparently overhead certain aspects of their meeting, because she had caught Anne’s eye during the break, sending her a grateful smile. More outward emotion than she had been able to show all week, and enough to make Anne beam with pride for her strong companion.

Though, not everything had gone to plan. Gilbert had yet to turn up to work that day, despite promising to come with Anne to this meeting. No explanation, but Anne could only trust that he had reason enough to skip work that day. It had made life a little harder for her, as she had selfishly hoped to at least get her feelings for him out in the open. Turns out, being knowingly in love with someone, instead of in denial, made it much harder to hold it all in.

Anne brushed her skirt before entering the room at Muriel’s call, and sitting down in her chair rapidly. Muriel was much more relaxed in getting back to her desk, but as soon as she had sat down, she launched right into their meeting.

“Anne. You know that it is policy here for all our work to only be created by our journalists and editors, correct?”

“Yes, Muriel, absolutely!” She exclaimed, worry consuming her at the direction the conversation was going. “And I want to say I’m very sorry that I went against you, but I just needed to write about this, it’s been weighing on me and so many other women in the office for so long, but I completely understand, it was foolish of me to think that it was al-“

“Anne.”

“Y-yes?” Dammit. Rambling.

Muriel smiled widely. “We can’t very well publish this as a work by our receptionist.”

Anne hung her head, not wanting to jeopardize the situation anymore with her frantic words.

“But if we were to publish with our newest editor, Anne Shirley-Cuthbert?”

She felt herself stop breathing, the grip on the arms of her chair tightening. There was no way that she had heard her correctly. “…I’m sorry, what?”

“Anne. This article is brilliant. You somehow managed to capture all the important issues that women have to face, while still keeping this universality. I know in the past, we haven’t tried to shake things up too much, but I think that “What Is Fair?” could be the shove in the right direction that this community needs.”

She leans forward on her elbows, eagerly grinning. “Anne, I want to offer you a position on our editing team.”

Okay, now Anne had definitely stopped breathing. The oxygen supply to her brain had been cut off, causing her to start hallucinating. She had to be imagining this, because there was no possible reality where this was actually happening. Slowly, she reaches over to her wrist and pinches the skin below her palm, letting out a short yelp. Muriel jolts a little at the sound, confusion evident on her face. But it only serves to prove to Anne this is real. This is happening. She lets out a breath, breaking out into a cheek-splitting grin.

“Oh my god! You’re kidding! This is real, oh my- oh my god…” She stutters out, as Muriel moves to sit in the chair beside her, pulling one of her hands into her own, laughing a little at the girl’s state.

“I’m glad to know that my new managing editor is so excited, because I’ll need you to start on this right away in order for us to meet the deadline of next week’s paper, since we obviously won’t have enough time to find a spot for-“

“Wait.” Anne stops short, not sure if she misheard her boss. “What editor?”

“Oh, yes! I almost forgot to tell you what position I was giving you!” She laughed, playfully smacking herself in the forehead. “The position for managing editor has recently become available, and I have it on good authority that you are the perfect candidate for the job.”

Managing editor. But that can’t be right, isn’t…

“Isn’t that Gilbert’s job?” Anne is frightened to hear whatever answer is coming. She truly doesn’t know what she is about hear, because this is all happening way too fast for her.

“Did he not tell you?” Muriel furrows her brows in surprise and concern. “Unfortunately, Gilbert has some family priorities he claimed he needed to focus on at the moment. He came in early this morning and resigned. I thought for sure that he would have…”

“No.” He wouldn’t do that. Gilbert loved his job, and all his friends were here. This was what he was meant to be doing, even if Mary had her baby, he didn’t need to drop everything completely. He couldn’t just throw his whole life away! “He didn’t tell me.” Anne murmured, still in a state of shock and disbelief.

“Hm. I suppose…it might have been a little difficult to talk about.” Muriel’s eyes flicker with understanding, before squeezing Anne’s hand. “You know, he was another part of the reason I decided to give you the job. He had warned me about your article. Said that it was ‘better than anything he, or anyone else, had ever written here’, and that you were the only person who deserved that job. More than himself, even.”

The little voice in Anne’s head has started shouting in her ear, defying this, denying everything that she knew was true. But…this couldn’t be it. No goodbye, no nothing. She supposed he wasn’t leaving forever, but it wouldn’t ever be the same. She could never come into work knowing that Gilbert would make the effort to visit her desk a couple of times, bringing a new article, a new idea, a funny comment, a bright smile, a sincere compliment. Anything, just to spend time together. 

That was something that nobody had ever done for her; put so much effort into just making time for. For once, she had felt like she was a priority, not an obligation, or a burden. He had always made sure she felt like that, even before they became close. He heard her, and he understood her. She loved her friends…but he was Gilbert. How could she go on during the day, knowing he wasn’t around the corner from her, smirking at the memory of the prank they pulled together, or smiling wistfully at the memory of their dance?

She couldn’t do it. She needed to find him. She needed to tell him everything. To put things right. Even if she stayed a receptionist for the rest of her life, it would be worth it.

“Muriel…I’m sorry but-“

“Before you say anything, Anne,” Muriel interrupted, letting go of Anne’s hand to get her attention, before going to pull something out of her top desk drawer, “I noticed that Gilbert accidentally left this on his desk after he left this morning.” 

She placed it into Anne’s empty palm, revealing it to a small, black umbrella. Anne looked back her boss in confusion, before Muriel sat back behind her desk, a sly and understanding glint in her eye. “Don’t you think someone ought to return that to him?”

Oh. Oh!

Anne shot up out of the chair, shooting her a quick thank you before yanking her office door open.

“Oh, and Anne?” She spun around, hand still on the doorknob, umbrella pressed tightly within the grasp of her other.

“Yes?” She panted out, sounding a little desperate.

“Tell Gilbert to come see me when he can. Who’s to say we can’t have two managing editors?”

Taking no time to process her response properly, Anne dashed out the door, quickly tossing her car keys from reception into her pocket and slamming the entrance door open, without bothering to shut it, before stumbling down the stairs as fast as she could. If she was lucky, maybe he would be back at the Lacroix’s address. She could ask Marilla and Matthew where they lived, and then hopefully she could find him before he had given up.

As she came to the bottom of the stairs, she skidded to a halt, her heart tightening in her throat, as she caught sight of the sliding glass doors still closed by the entrance. But there was no mistaking the figure behind the glass, slowing his last few steps, and looking as if he had also been running. They were both panting slowly, the rise and fall of their chests being the only movement between them for several minutes, as they stood there, taking the other in with complete disbelief.

Gradually, Anne came to her senses and slowly began walking towards the doors, watching them slide open as she came to a stop just behind them. The invisible barrier no longer separating them, Anne could hear Gilbert’s shuddered breath as he took a few steps forward, mirroring her stance on his side of the doors, neither wanting to cross that line yet. There was too much left unsaid. And Anne would be damned if she wasn’t going to get some answers.

“What are you doing here?” She blurted out, surprised by the welling emotion in her question, her quivering vocal fry being a dead giveaway. Gilbert could only smile sadly, and slowly put his hands back into those damn pockets.

“I left my coat. I wanted to…to come and get it.”

She doesn’t believe him for a second. His voice had the same edge as hers. “No, you didn’t.”

He doesn’t bother denying it, the smile never leaving his face. “No, I didn’t.”

Hope rises in her throat, threatening to burst out. She needs to ask. 

“Why would you do that?” He knows what she’s talking about immediately.

“Because you deserve it.” He’d stopped smiling now, and he’s somehow closer than before. “You deserve everything, Anne.”

“Gil…” When had her voice become so untrustworthy? Why couldn’t she just tell him?

“Also, it doesn’t hurt that I am totally, completely, in love with you.”

Nobody else exists. There is no ground beneath her feet, there are no clouds above her head. She is suspended mid-air, and she anchors herself to his words. Love. In love with you. Completely. She knew for certain now that, if she were to attempt to make a sound above her trembling gasp, she would melt into a blubbering mess, or lose her anchor and float off into the sky.

He takes her silence as a blatant rejection, furrowing his brows and stepping forward, now between the doors. “And I know, I know that’s not what you want to hear right now, I know you’re with Roy, I know we’re friends, I know all of that…but, god, I just couldn’t help it, Anne.” As his eyes become glassy and his rambling turns frantic, he takes his hands out of his pockets once more, gesturing wildly as he continues. “You’re just – you’re like this beacon of light, and hope, or an actual ray of sunshine. But then you’re also like this feisty, powerful tornado? That doesn’t make any sense, but I’m trying to explain this, and I think this is the first time I’ve ever said this aloud, so it’s coming out really weir-“

“You forgot your umbrella.”

“Oh – what?”

Anne dropped the umbrella to the ground and rushed forward to meet him at the threshold, taking his face in her hands and – finally – pressing her lips against his. He froze momentarily, fingers splaying by his sides, before something suddenly clicked in his mind, and he responded in kind, melding his lips with hers and wrapping his arms securely around her waist. As he pulls her in to his chest, lips never leaving hers, he hesitates to completely bring her into his embrace, still unsure of what was really happening, and sure that whatever magnificent, wonderful dream he was in right now would shortly end, and he would be back at home, staring at her contact in his phone.

When she eventually pulls back, just enough to look back at his expression, his eyes are half-lidded and dazed, as he leans forward a little, chasing her lips as she leaves their little bubble. She silently laughs.

“I will let you call me Carrots for the rest of your life if you just stay and talk to Muriel for five seconds.” She whispers, causing him to wake from his hazy dreamscape to the sound of her raspy voice.

“…Carrots?” He whispered back, eyebrows rising in confusion.

“That’s the one.” She traced her thumbs, still pressed to the sides of his face, along the tiny dustings of freckles just underneath his eyes, smiling affectionately and finally regaining a semblance of her voice, though she didn’t quite recognize the voice that came out.

“Gilbert…I am so in love with you.” His grip on her waist tightens, and she’s thrown back to the memory once again, just for a solitary moment, before regaining her footing. The look on his face, this hopeful, amazed boy, was now becoming her new favorite version of Gilbert. But she supposed, at that point, she had too many favorites to ignore the fact that every version of him would always be her favorite. 

“But…Roy?”

She almost laughed at the question. “I’m not with Roy anymore. We broke up at the wedding. We wanted different things.”

The revelation gives him a moment of confidence, smirking only slightly, and leaning forward. “Different things?”

“Well, I wanted different things.” She couldn’t help but grin back, before the sobering reality of the past few years of her life came back to her. “The truth is, there were a lot of reasons for me to end things with Roy. But I never cared about any of those reasons until I met you.”

His response is a mixture of a wet laugh, and a choked sigh. He lifts a hand to cradle her own as she palms his cheek lovingly, closing his eyes and leaning into her touch once more. It spurs her on again, reminding her of how much she loves this fool. “You are one of the best things that has ever happened to me, and if you think I’m letting you nearly slip through my fingers again, you are sorely mistaken, mister.”

She expected him to laugh more at her tone, but he simply smiled, light seeming to radiate from his expression, as he repeats her. “You love me.”

She bites her lip. “I do.”

Again, louder now. “You love me.”

She leans her forehead against his in mock frustration as she giggles breathlessly. “Yes, I do! How many times do you–“

He doesn’t let her finish before he cuts off her words with another kiss, more fierce, passionate and desperate than the last. Both his arms fully encircle her waist as he pulls her upwards a little, to be face to face with him. In return, her arms are quickly flung around his neck, playing with the curls at the back of his head and balancing precariously on the balls of her feet, causing her to lean forward fully. Luckily, his body seems to balance her, and the distance between them is non-existent, as he holds her as tightly as possible, trying to meld their spirits back together again. They are close, but it seems like they could never be close enough, each bringing the other person in closer, somehow.

After their lips moved in sync together for what felt like hours, they gently parted, nuzzling their noses together as Anne dropped back to her normal height. Foreheads once again resting together, they shared in the combined ecstasy of the aftermath, breathing each other in, and staying as close as they possibly could.

Gilbert finally broke the spell. “I have been wanting to do that ever since you threw that cup of tea on me.” Anne couldn’t help but break out in an embarrassed laugh, partially at the shared stupidity and misunderstandings the two had been through since that fateful day. After the two let out their laughter together, they settled back into their silence, basking in this new development.

“Gil…come inside?”

“…Only for you, Carrots.” He smirks.

“I’m already regretting giving you that right.” She faked her exasperation, rolling her eyes gently and pulling back slightly, umbrella long forgotten, to take his hands in her own and start walking backwards towards the stairs, not quite wanting to look away just yet. 

“Too late! No take backs! You love me, and I can now call you Carrots! I’d say that’s a pretty great way to end the day.”

“Hmm…I think I still prefer Anne-girl. That always had a nice ring to it.”

“I will literally call you whatever you want, Anne-girl,” he stops short and pulls her towards him, raking his hand adoringly across her own cheek, “so long as this was all real and not a dream, and I get to do this every day for as long as possible.”

She is so filled with love, bursting at the seams, that she feels she hasn’t stopped smiling since she first kissed him. She kissed him. He loved her. She loved him. This was real. And this was it.

“For as long as we want.”

After another lifetime passed, they finally managed to get up the entire staircase without stopping to steal more kisses, more strokes, more loving glances, convincing themselves that they would have plenty more time to do that – for the rest of their lives, if they weren’t mistaken. As they approached the door to the office, Anne squeezed his hand, grabbing his attention again.

“I think Muriel might be making us co-managers. Is that okay?”

He grins, bringing her hand up to his lips to press a lingering kiss to her knuckles, never breaking their line of sight, and murmuring his words against her hand in a voice that she knew she would never grow tired of for the rest of her life.

“Well, Carrots, didn’t I always say that we made a great T-E-A-M?”

A few more minutes wouldn’t hurt, right?


	2. epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> one year later; the office is thriving, our favorite couple are very happy, but good lord, they just can't catch a break!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK wow. Ya'll shocked me with how much love you showed this thing. I was so self-conscious posting this piece since I'm fairly new to the fanfic game, but WOW. I LOVE YOU GUYS. thank you so much for all your lovely comments and kudos, I'll be replying to any I haven't already once I post this epilogue because I've been focusing on it for awhile to make sure I got it done.
> 
> A thousand big big BIG apologies for not uploading this for a while, I have been really busy getting ready for my first week at uni and teaching, so spare time hasn't been used for writing sadly, plus I felt pretty uninspired with the notes I had down already - so in my true fashion, this ended up being longer and more elaborate than I had originally planned. Sorry about the long wait, but I really hope you enjoy this little epilogue :))))

“…and the people of the village have all consented to having their story told in the piece. So, that ties up all our loose ends, as far as I’m aware. Any questions?”

She was met with silence as the rest of the occupants of the conference room shook their heads in approval. Anne smiled with pride, letting out a brief sigh of relief. “Perfect! I will be handling this story with Ka’kwet, to make sure everything remains culturally sensitive, so Diana and I will be out for this afternoon to shoot the first of the interviews, and other than that, you’ve already been assigned your stories for the week, so we look forward to seeing the finished work!”

It was simply fate that had brought Anne to finding a kindred spirit in dear Ka’kwet, meeting her whilst she visited Marilla and Matthew for the holidays. The time away had already been magical enough, getting to spend whole days with her found family, helping them around the farm and getting to soak up the rejuvenating spirit of the rural air. Of course, it didn’t hurt that holidays had become a lot more special for Anne now that Gilbert and his family shared Christmas Eve and Christmas night dinner duties with the Cuthberts.

Things with Gilbert had been…well, words couldn’t quite capture it, and that was not a statement that Anne took lightly. It had been only a year and a half since the two had finally given into the incredibly suffocated romantic tension between them, and things had moved surprisingly fast for the smitten pair. Anne supposed that being completely in love with each other for at least a year prior to actually becoming a couple made them a little more antsy to jump straight into their newfound relationship.

In fact, it was only a year into the relationship before they had decided to move in together, the sheer amount of time Anne spent in Gilbert’s apartment making her own living accommodation seem pretty pointless. On that particular night, Gilbert had turned Anne over onto her stomach in his arms as they lay sideways on his couch, her significantly smaller body gripped softly against his chest. Her face screwed up only slightly as he reminded her that they had work tomorrow, and that she should probably get home before it got too late for her to be driving. 

Maybe it had just been her reluctance to leave her cozy spot, simultaneously splayed out and tucked close against his body, finishing off her most recent novel. Or maybe it was the way his eyes were somehow so bright and sparkling despite the sleep deprivation hiding in them. But Anne sighed dejectedly, tucking her face into his shoulder and groaning.

“What if I just stay…” she murmured into his collarbone, causing his breathy chuckle to shake her, eliciting her own giggles into the soft skin of his neck.

“It would make these goodbyes much easier.” He seemed to sober a little, before turning to face her more front on and smirking, “Not that we don’t get to see each other in a few more hours.”

“Mm…which makes the next few hours unbearable.” It was true, even if she was exaggerating a little in her fatigued state. Now that she spent so much time at Gilbert’s apartment after work, she always found herself lonely during the night in her solitary living space. “How much easier would it be if I just lived here…”

She laughs a little at her own comment, meaning for it to be joking, but the reality of how happy that thought made her was suddenly a lot for Anne, and she found herself wrapping her arms around Gilbert’s frame a little more tightly. The man in question had gone oddly quiet, causing Anne to lift her head to rest her chin just underneath his own against his shoulder. The thoughtful but fond look he was giving her led her to reach out her hand in question, stroking his cheek to get an answer from him. It only caused him to break out into a wide and sure grin, but his eyes still held a little worry as he scanned her own face.

“So…stay.” His whisper was almost inaudible, even inches away.

“What?”

“Move in with me, Anne.”

After some initial shock, disbelief and the tightest hug Gilbert had ever received in his life, the following hours were spent in absolute bliss, both of them choosing to delay the logistics of the move and how this might change anything between them, beyond acknowledging the fact that they could just be together. That feeling managed to last them the entire night, leading to a last ditch at sleep for both of them, as they snuggled underneath the covers of Gilbert’s bed – their bed – at around four in the morning. If they seemed a little tired that day at work, nobody had noticed anything unusual past the goofy grins plastered to the couples’ faces all day.

Since then, Anne and Gilbert had more or less developed a routine, taking turns driving to work each day, sharing each other’s work loads (something that had become quite a regular occurrence since they began sharing the position of managing co-editors of the paper) and of course, sharing each other’s company throughout as much of the day as they possibly could. Not to say that they weren’t professional in the workplace – of course, they both agreed from the beginning that their relationship should never get in the way of both of their futures. But their coworkers were more than okay with some occasional public displays of affection between them, scattered throughout the day, since it never seemed to interfere with either persons productivity.

Besides, if they expressed any frustration at Anne and Gilbert’s PDA, they would have to come down even harder on Ruby and Moody – a couple who seemingly came out of nowhere, at least from Anne’s perspective. Diana had continued to claim that she knew about the budding relationship from the moment that the two of them danced together at her wedding. The two of them had developed a penchant for being extremely open with their growing affections for each other, and while it was rarely physical in the office, it was almost as extreme to witness their romantic and wistful ramblings as they daydreamed about the other from opposite ends of the office. Super cute, though, Anne definitely couldn’t deny that.

But she supposed that wasn’t the only development in the office since last year. After Billy was finally fired from the paper, after “What is Fair” effectively exposed his horrendous actions from the Baynard wedding, Muriel had made quick work of the interview process for the open position, the Gazette’s very own Tillie Boulter being promoted from the online staff to the newly vacant sports editor position. While there was some skepticism at the time, who could have guessed that Tillie would have such a penchant for sport? Honestly, despite Anne doubting her only a little in the beginning, she was shocked at how well Tillie had taken to the new job, her articles already becoming far more engaging and popular within their readers than Billy’s had ever been.

Anne wandered back to her office, right next to Gilbert’s down the hall, shutting the door behind her and beginning to gather her belongings back into her handbag. She was so caught up in the task at the hand that she almost didn’t register the door quietly opening and shutting once more, as well as the intruder in her room. That was, until said intruder wrapped their sturdy arms around her middle, sending a brief jolt through her body, until she relaxed into the familiar hold, laughing and leaning back into his embrace, away from the edge of her desk. As she held the arms across her stomach, Gilbert pressed a lingering kiss to her shoulder over the top of the sleeve of her blouse, causing her to melt, leaning her head against his neck, as he chuckled against her.

“You were wonderful in there.”

“I was just doing a normal meeting. It was no great achievement, sweetheart.”

“I don’t quite know what you mean.” He quirked an eyebrow teasingly as she turned to get a better look at him. “All I saw was my insanely talented girlfriend, Anne Shirley-Cuthbert, making an impassioned speech about the rights of our indigenous nation. That’s no easy feat.”

Anne should have been used to the compliments by now; after all, Gilbert had been sure that, ever since they started their relationship (and, realistically, well before that), she would never forget all of the incessantly lovely things he thought about her. However, Anne could never seem to lose her flustered nature whenever he would flatter her like that. Needless to say, she ensured that the feeling was always reciprocated in kind.

She spun, just enough to remain within his space while being able to face him front on, and caught the smug grin on his face, barely hiding the admiration behind his eyes. She tucked her arms up behind his neck, thumbing the edge of his hair at the base of it and tilting her head to the side in mock curiosity. “Wasn’t it you who suggested we branch out into Indigenous issues in the first place? I think if anyone is to be congratulated, it’s you.” Poking his nose affectionately, Anne scrunched up her nose in laughter at his faux shock.

“As much as I would love to insist that you’re wrong, I learnt a long time ago that that is never the case.” She grins in triumph as he playfully rolls his eyes. “Anyway, I think we should end this debate while we can. Even though I love our little rebuttal, our compliment battles tend to go on for hours, and if I’m not mistaken, you have an important mission this afternoon.”

“Indeed.” Anne teased once more, before dropping the joke in favor of her real excitement. “Oh, Gilbert! I’m so excited to get into the village! Ka’kwet’s family is so lovely, and from what I can gather, the rest of the village is much the same. I can’t wait to hear some of their stories.”

“It’s going to be wonderful, Anne.” He squeezed her waist in assurance, smiling down at her. “It’s a great thing you’re doing. I must say I’m very excited to hear more about it when you get back.”

“Speaking of…” Anne trailed off, eyes flicking down to his lips momentarily, “Dinner plans for tonight? We could head out for the night, if you want?” 

Gilbert grimaced slightly, not pulling back from their position just yet. “I have so much paperwork, I doubt I’ll be able to see straight by dinner. Do you mind if we eat in again? I’ll cook?”

“No!” Anne yelped, only half in jest. “Gilbert, I didn’t plan on having food poisoning tonight. I had planned to be well and truly fit and healthy for the rest of the weekend, thank you very much. But I’ll compromise. Let’s cook something together, does that sound good?”

Gilbert smiled brightly as he slowly leaned down to her face, “That sounds perfect…” His sentence is hardly finished before their lips meet, a slow and well-versed dance beginning between the two. What started out chaste quickly took a turn, as Gilbert wrapped his arms fully around her waist, pulling her impossibly closer, simultaneously backing the two of them up against Anne’s desk for support. After a lifetime, Gilbert slowly pulled away, as Anne attempted to chase his lips with her own once more, eliciting a light, breathy chuckle from her partner, who nudged their noses playfully together. While this sated Anne a little, she had to admit that having him so close, and yet so far away, was solely serving to irritate her.

“Don’t you have a mission to get to, Carrots?” He whispers, the air hitting her face from their proximity.

“…Right now?” She whines a little, as he starts to gradually pull away, sliding his hands along her arms as he steps back.

“Right now, I’m afraid…” She huffs, but deep down, she’s still ecstatic to get down to see Ka’kwet. It just would have been nice if she had the slightest bit more time with Gilbert before she left.

“Hey.” He calls from the door, as she packs the last of her things and heads to pass him with a quick peck on the cheek (anything more and she would never leave this room). 

“I love you.” He reminds her with a whisper of a smile and a twinkle in his eyes. She almost laughs to herself – as if she could ever forget such an indisputable fact.

“I love you too.” She stroked the cheek previously kissed, before opening the door. “I’ll see in a few hours, right?”

She could have sworn he looks almost nervous at the thought, but visibly gulps down any passing anxiety and smiles back at her from the doorway. 

“I’m already counting the minutes.”

-

“-and when Aluk told us all those stories about Ka’kwet?” Anne wheezed, slightly hunched over in the passenger’s seat of Diana’s car, as her busom friend struggled to contain her own laughter and stay focused on the road. Despite how serious some of their interviews were, the content being relatively heavy, most of the villagers had been eager to tell them stories about themselves and their families. Anne found that just as important, in her eyes – that was the kind of approach they needed to balance the article and make it easier for the less progressive people of Avonlea to digest.

“Oh, Anne, they were so lovely. I’m so glad we got to do this.” Diana gushed when they finally contained their laughter a few moments later. Despite it all, Anne knew that a part of her was still fuming about the reasoning behind the article, and found herself frowning, despite the happy memories of the day.

“That’s what makes me angrier, still. That people, just like Aluk and Oqwatnuk, had to go through such horrific treatment all those years ago. And even now that things are different, they still aren’t as accepted as they should be.” She huffed, leaning back into the seat and crossing her arms tightly across her chest. 

“I know. It’s awful what they’ve all been through,” Diana agreed, “and nothing we do can change that. But we have a great opportunity here, Anne. We can tell their story so that people in Avonlea can really understand their plight. Who knows – if we can publish it on the online paper we could reach outside of Avonlea, even past PEI altogether?”

Anne smiled slightly, glancing back over at her. “Thank you, dearest Diana. Where would I be without your vast wisdom?” She dramatically threw her hand against her forehead, causing Diana to chuckle again at her friends teasing.

At that moment, Diana’s phone, sitting in the cup holder in between the two of them, flashed with a new message. Before Anne could offer to answer the text for her while she drove, Diana quickly took a peek at the screen, facing in her direction, before her eyes widened comically. She practically tossed the phone into the backseat, Anne watching in shock as it haphazardly got knocked around against the leather. When she glanced back at her friend in obvious confusion, she avoided her gaze and laughed nervously.

“Sorry. Just a message from Jerry.”

“Jerry?” She asked incredulously, raising her eyebrow suspiciously.

“Trust me, you don’t want to see what he sent me.” She smirked, cheekily. “I did you a favor.”

Anne quickly recognized her suggestive tone, and the mere image of what that message might have contained was enough to make her groan out loud and laugh in embarrassment, glad that she narrowly avoided seeing Jerry…She shivered at the thought.

“Hey,” Diana interrupted, suddenly hell-bent on putting all her focus onto the road ahead of her, “How about we stop by the cafe down the street and grab some actually decent coffee for everyone? Since we’re out, it might be a nice idea.”

“I mean, sure. I’m sure they’d appreciate a little coffee run, why not? How long will it take, do you think?”

“Probably about 20 minutes. It won’t take too long.”

Anne was a little hesitant, since an extra 20 minutes seemed to be eating into the short amount of time that they still had that afternoon to start writing their article. But then again, she supposed that they still had the rest of the week, and she did pride herself on being efficient in her writing. If she had her way, she would make sure the article was written and edited within the next day.

“As long as we get some almond milk lattes, I’m all for a stopover.”

“Anne, don’t fret my dear. I have your coffee order memorized at this point.”

-

Anne gently opened the passenger door, balancing the cardboard tray on both hands as she attempted to manoeuvre her way out of the vehicle using her foot to keep from smacking her door into Tillie’s new car. She couldn’t help but chuckle internally at the irony of the situation, a wave of déjà vu hitting as she remembered a version of herself from not that long ago whose job it was to take coffee orders. Though she wasn’t much older at all, she felt like she had grown a great deal wiser in the last two years, and she didn’t know whether she could chock that completely up to the new experiences she had made through being an editor. It may have been helped along by a couple of people, she realized thoughtfully.

But she was soon pulled out of her nostalgic remembrance by the distinct sound of…well, she wasn’t quite sure what. To her, it sounded like rain, but she hadn’t seen a day this sunny in weeks. Not only that, but Anne was certain she would have felt relatively wet if it had indeed started raining, so she could safely rule that scenario out. But that didn’t explain the noise that she heard. And there was also the added mixture of the high pitched, staccato rhythm of some kind of alarm, only adding to her confusion. That was until she realized the sound was coming from the top level of the building – the office for the Gazette. To Anne, that could only mean one thing. The sprinklers had gone off.

Now, Anne wasn’t one to panic in the face of danger, in fact she found that she often took on leadership roles in situations of peril and kept her cool in a way she was quietly proud of. But, to her, the sound of sprinklers could only indicate the fire alarm had been set off – hence the “alarm-like” sound from earlier.

Really, Anne would have been beating herself up for not realizing sooner, were she not so preoccupied with worry.

Because she couldn’t see anyone from the office in the carpark. Meaning that, worst case scenario, the entire staff of the Gazette was stuck inside the office and facing a fire emergency. And she didn’t want to be selfish, but she could only think to panic over one detail in that moment.

Gilbert was inside.

He had probably been locking himself in his office, working himself to the bone all afternoon, and was now still in his haze from hours of writing and concentration without a break. And he was inside.

Shit. Shit, shit shit-

Anne turned to the car bonnet, placing the coffee tray onto the flat surface, before madly dashing towards the front door, ignorant to the shouts from Diana to stop, to come back, to just “calm down”.

As she entered the lobby, about to continue her sprint up the stairs, Ruby, Cole and Jane came careening down the stairs before she could even think to set foot onto the bottom step. Immediately, she could see that they were soaked through, Ruby’s little whimpers showing her obvious discomfort as Jane and Cole attempted to calm her down. While the small girl continued in her miserable sounds, her other two friends skidded to a halt upon seeing their red-headed friend in the middle of the foyer, obviously looking panicked.

“Anne!” Cole exclaimed, breaking out of his stupor to surge forward and block her path before she attempted to go up to the second floor. “What are you doing here?” He pointedly glances behind her, to where she assumes Diana had just entered. “I thought you weren’t meant to be back for another ten minutes. Diana?” There was an anxious edge to his voice, and Anne could piece together that something suspicious was going on. Anne couldn’t help but wonder how he knew they were going to be gone for longer, unless Diana had told him beforehand, which made no sense at all. 

“The line was really short, Cole.” She could have sworn she heard her whisper an apology from behind her, as Jane began pushing Anne back towards the door.

“Well, I think you forgot a couple of orders. Better get back over there and grab an americano for Josie! You know how picky she is aft-“

Before she could finish her sentence, the rest of the office staff came stumbling down the stairs, in a similar sopping fashion to the others. As Moody slipped carelessly on the top level of the first flight, Anne thought, with a horrifying realization, that only one member of staff was missing. The one that she hadn’t been able to stop worrying about since she first got back to the office.

Shit.

Ignoring Muriel’s exasperated attempts to calm the rest of the staff in the lobby, as well as the shouts of her friends, Anne desperately fumbled her way up the steps to get to the office. To her surprise, the door was left swung open, revealing, as she had suspected, the sprinkler system that had been activated. As she entered the room, however, she stopped abruptly in her tracks. Because none of this made any sense, and it just kept getting more confusing.

While the sprinklers were on, that was not the most noticeable abnormality in the workspace. Anne was shocked to see, what appeared to be, hundreds of small candles scattered around different areas of the office. She imagined that they would have looked absolutely stunning, illuminating the room in a way she had never seen it, and giving it a beautiful, romantical ambience. But unfortunately, most of the candles had been snuffed out by the sprinklers, so the effect had been lost.

Standing to the side of the room, much to her relief, was a very un-scorched, sopping wet Gilbert Blythe. After watching him pathetically try and cover the last of the lit candles in the corner, she called his name, her voice coming out a scratchy thing. It automatically caught his attention, causing him to fling his body around, knocking over a candle in the process. But it seemed that he didn’t notice.

While his arms hung in a defeated fashion by his side now that he wasn’t using them to cover the small flames, the disappointment seemed to fade from his expression when she came into his view, the sprinklers making short work of soaking her through her blazer and button-up within no time at all. Instead, he looked at her the same way he had looked at her everyday throughout this past year – fondly, like she hung the moon, or if she could remember correctly, like she were “a literal ray of sunshine”. She felt like flinging her arms around him, not only in relief, but in her own affection for him, but she found herself rooted to her spot across from him, confusion leaving her limbs obsolete. 

He slowly began to approach her, noticing her silence. He chuckled nervously, never losing the intense look in his eyes or breaking eye contact with her. “Guess this isn’t going to be as romantic as I had planned, huh?”

What? “What? Gilbert, what’s going on? What are you talk-“

She choked on her words, the second that he slowly began bending down to one knee.

Shit.

Holy shit.

This is happening.

Anne hoped that her expression was positive enough to urge him forward, but she truly couldn’t think about controlling her face, let alone attempting to use her brain at all. It must have been, because Gilbert swallowed down any hesitation, and soldiered on.

“This is not what I had planned. But, to be honest, I should have expected something to go wrong. We’ve had our share of misunderstandings and mistakes, and I’m sure this won’t be the last time we have to go the long way around.” He pauses, taking a deep, shaking breath, shattering Anne’s heart. “So, I’m going to do this, just like I have planned to do it for the last year.” He momentarily grins, flickering his gaze to her mouth. “Pretty much since the day we started dating.”

Anne wished that she could say something. Each time she had imagined her engagement to Gilbert – a scenario she had replayed in her head a multitude of times throughout the past year – she had pictured them taking turns in the proposal. Both of them listing off every reason that they wanted to spend the rest of their lives together. But any words that she had beforehand prepared had managed to get caught at the tip of her tongue, held back by her trembling mouth, now covered by her palm. The back of her hand had water rolling down the surface of it, and Anne couldn’t be sure that it was from the sprinkler. It was too warm and, in her opinion, felt too much like tears.

He continued.

“Anne, my Anne with an e…this is the spot where we first met. From the moment this spirited, redheaded dryad splashed her tea over the front of my shirt – before you ask, no, I will never stop bringing that up – I was a complete goner. I didn’t realize it at first – I didn’t realize how important you would become to me. Then, when you spoke out for the first time in the conference room all those months ago, that was the moment when I figured it out. I remember saying to myself, ‘Take a good look. This will be person that you spend the rest of your life with’. Either that, or I was in for a long, tortuous existence, knowing you would never feel the same way. And that was how I lived; utterly in denial about any possible future we could have together, any future where you had any feelings for me.”

By the time he finished his sentence, the words had become choked, small slip ups and tongue ties creeping into his voice as it began to crack with thick emotion. That was what did it for Anne. In an instant, she was kneeling on both of her knees before Gilbert, now eye level enough for her to feel much calmer in his presence. She quickly took the hands that were balanced carefully on his propped up his knee, wrapping them in her own and tenderly kissing the clump of hands between her palms. At the contact of her own hands, Gilbert pulled himself down onto his other knee, mirroring her position and inching closer to her, creating their own little bubble under the constant stream of water falling onto them from the ceiling. 

She nodded. She understood why he was getting emotional. They’d had this conversation before, sharing their respective misery from a time before either of them could accept that the other would ever have feelings for them. Now that they were finally together, it was harder than ever to reminisce about how tragic their lives could have been if they had never confessed to each other all those months. She knew that he must have been thinking through it in that moment, and so, she nodded. So that he knew that she understood. That she wanted him to keep going. In return, he nodded back, getting his breath under control before continuing, now in a much more hushed tone, to match their more intimate position.

Anne thought to herself, as he spoke, that this was it. This felt right. This moment was them.

“After so many missed opportunities, and so many ‘could-have-been’ moments, we finally made it to each other. And every day, I thank whoever who is in charge of fate or destiny, because never in a million years…never in a million years would I ever think of deserving a life with you. You are…everything, Anne. You are the sun and the stars, and I know that you hung the moon well before we met. You are the fond object of my affection and my desire. You, and you alone, are the keeper of the key to my heart.” By this point, Anne could no longer control her emotions, and had been quietly sobbing throughout the remainder of his words, which only served to make Gilbert equally as emotional. However, despite the now flowing tears and his cracked throat, he continued on with a blinding smile beneath the tears. 

“I am so unbelievably grateful that we get to walk alongside each other in life, and that I get to say to myself that I belong to you. My heart is yours. It always been, and always will be. My wonderful, powerful, ethereal love.” He leaned forward to whisper to her, sneakily. “My Carrots.”

As if a shared secret between the two, Anne found it one of the most intimate moments they had ever experienced. And yet, she still found the both of them caught up in a bubble of wet laughter, leaning their foreheads together in a familiar position. She felt his breath hit her mouth as he took one last steady breath, in and out.

“So, I’m asking you, my one and only lifemate…” Anne held her breath, despite knowing exactly what was to come, and exactly how she would answer.

“Will you M-A-R-R-Y me?”

For a few moments, Anne could do no more than sob openly, interjections of laughter peeling through as she affectionately caressed his hands, moving hands to hold his face, grasping his cheeks and pulling him as close to her as possible. As she regained her voice finally, her breathy “yes” was barely heard between the two of them. So, she continues, scatterings of “yes” whispered over and over again, in between peppered kisses to his slippery face, and against his soft skin.

She feels his ear-splitting grin against the side of her face, as he presses his own face into the hollow of her neck and wraps his arms entirely around her middle, chests pressed together on the ground of the office carpet, soaked from head to toe, locked in the tightest embrace either of them had ever felt.

They pull back only slightly for a crushing kiss, their hands clumsily grasping at the others face in a desperate attempt from both of them to try and get as close as possible – a feat they had always failed at. They would never get close enough.

As they gradually smiled into the kiss, their lips locked in their own tender embrace, Gilbert seemed to be shocked out of his romantic daze, leaning back slightly and slapping himself in the forehead in embarrassment.

“Dammit! I knew I forgot something!” He quickly rummaged through his pants pocket, pulling out a small velvet pouch, pulling it open and sliding out the contents of the bag into his palm. Anne shook as she looked down at the beautiful, emerald ring, now held between Gilbert’s fingers. He slowly and gently brought her hand towards him, slipping the ring carefully onto the appointed finger, fitting perfectly along Anne’s slender digit. She quietly gasped in realization, suddenly remembering where she had seen the ring before, from a time not so long ago.

Gilbert had allowed her to see inside his box of treasured possessions by the foot of his bed, showing her the various objects and trinkets that he valued more than anything else he owned. Most of them, she had come to learn, had belonged to his parents. A medal for his father’s service in the Vietnam War, long before Gilbert was born, a photo of him and his father from when he was a toddler, and, one of the most notable objects - one that Anne hadn’t been able to forget since.

“Your mother’s ring.” There was no question in her tone, simply astonishment and love. She still couldn’t believe that he would ever think her worthy enough to wear such a treasured possession, with so much personal attachment for Gilbert.

“Yeah. My mom’s.” He smiled, rubbing his thumb along the side of her face as she stared at the ring on her finger. “But it’s yours now. It’s belonged to you for a long time now. It’s about time that you finally got to wear it.”

She glanced up at him in surprise at his words. It had belonged to her for a long time. Just like they had belonged to each other since the day they had met.

God, she loved this idiot.

“For the record, Gil,” She grabbed the hand holding her face, taking his other palm in her free hand, caressing it gently and placing it against her heart. “This is perfect. I don’t need diamond sunbursts, or marble halls, or grand gestures. I don’t care about the stupid sprinklers or the burnt-out candles. I just…want you, Gil. I love you so much.”

He leaned in before she could even finish her sentence properly, her words muffled against his lips, in a much slower, less desperate embrace than before. They had each other, and they were in no rush. It felt just like some of the first kisses they had ever shared – soft, gentle, understanding, serene. This was the calm that they were always chasing together, and in these little moments, they could truly feel it.

Anne couldn’t wait to spend the rest of her life feeling like that.

Gilbert pulled back slightly, a grin on his face that almost made her roll her eyes.

“Remind me to thank the rest of the office later.”

Ass. 

They’d have plenty of time to thank the rest of the office later.

For now, the sprinklers, the candles, the cold coffees sitting on the bonnet of Diana’s car, and the rest of their workmates, probably listening from the doorway in quiet excitement…

She captured his lips once more.

They could all wait.

God, she was glad they were eating in tonight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for reading, love you guys xx
> 
> As you probably noticed, if you are a fan of the office, this was partially inspired by michael's proposal to holly, but much of the actual sentiment i think is much more inspired by anne with an e.
> 
> I have another idea for a modern au for anne, with a very different setting and vibe to it, but i doubt it will get put out for a while. It's also a multichapter idea, so I will try and write as many chapters of that before posting so that i can be regular with updates when I finally post it.
> 
> again LOVE YA and bye bye for now :)

**Author's Note:**

> In case you weren't already aware, certain aspects of this fic were inspired by the office, particularly certain aspects of jim and pam's relationship, eg. the pranks, the game of gilbert going to anne's desk, the "sometimes I just don't get roy" and obviously the whole subplot of anne being in another relationship. I just became so obsessed with the office recently and although gilbert and anne are such a different couple, I was super interested in seeing how their dynamic would change if many of the events from awae were occurring in an office.
> 
> This fic was an absolute MONSTER, like i already said, but I almost made it even longer, but I figued after typing out about 40 pages I had exhausted the amount of words I could put in one chapter. But if you guys would be interested in an epilogue, I have one more little snippet I wanted to include, which wraps up the whole story to create a little bit neater of an ending. But let me know :)
> 
> please let me know if you enjoyed the story, talk to me pleaseee :))) I love this fandom and I'm very proud of us. Until another time, tata for now xx


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